First Impressions
by entersomethingcleverhere
Summary: But Felicity Smoak seems stuck in the quiet beach town of Hertfordshire forever. Will the handsome summer tourist and his snobby best friend save her from another season of boredom or will Oliver Queen's stuck up attitude make Felicity want to strangle him before it's even over?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I blame President's Day for this.

The (tentative) plan is to update this every Tuesday.

Enjoy!

* * *

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young woman in possession of a great intellect must be in want of job that requires its use.

Unless, however, your mother is Donna Smoak, in which case she is determined to find you a husband who will provide you with a life that never requires you to lift a finger much less have an interesting thought in your life.

To call Donna Smoak a gossip would have been an insult to gossips, and really an insult to Donna herself. She was much more than a gossip: she was more like the town newspaper because she knew all the goings on and was determined to tell everyone in close proximity.

So it was no surprise to anyone that the minute a new person moved into town, Donna Smoak was the first to know.

Felicity Smoak stumbled down the stairs that fateful morning, bleary-eyed and exhausted, searching desperately for a cup of coffee to jolt her awake. She grunted a greeting to her mom and stepfather once she entered the kitchen, then made a beeline for the coffeemaker.

"Quentin, did you know that Tommy Merlyn is renting out the Netherfield beach house?" Donna asked her husband as Felicity poured her coffee.

The police captain didn't even glance up from his newspaper. "Who's Tommy Merlyn?"

Donna's mouth dropped open at her husband's ignorance. "Quentin! You don't know who Tommy Merlyn is?"

He let out a deep sigh, knowing that an incredulous speech was sure to follow.

"He's the son of Malcolm Merlyn and heir to the Merlyn Global fortune! He was listed by Forbes as one of the most eligible bachelors in the country! They say he's worth _five hundred million dollars!_ "

"Whoop de doo," Quentin said sarcastically. "Another worthless rich kid tourist who's going to raise hell in town, then leave the minute his friends get arrested."

Felicity took her coffee cup to the table. "Come on, Dad," she grinned. "If it weren't for the rich tourists, your job would be pretty boring otherwise."

"Not true," Laurel countered as she strode into the kitchen, fully dressed and looking as beautiful as ever. "I heard that last night you busted two moving meth labs."

Felicity laughed as she grabbed a slice of bacon off her mother's plate. "Yes, the meth scourge isn't all bad, since it saves the police department from complete boredom."

"Meth isn't a joke," Quentin growled, finally setting his newspaper down. "It's a serious thing."

Felicity caught Laurel's eye, but they had to look away immediately before they burst into raucous laughter.

"Well anyway," Donna plowed on, like she hadn't been interrupted, "Tommy Merlyn is staying in town, probably for the summer. And I heard he's going to the Beach Bash to celebrate the start of the season."

Felicity rolled her eyes. The Beach Bash was an annual event sponsored by all the beachfront businesses. There was music, food and games, but only tourists and families with young children ever went. Most adult townies skipped the event altogether.

"Fascinating," Laurel drawled, pouring her coffee into her travel mug. "Well, I have to get to work. Dad, I'll probably stop by your office later to talk about those meth cases."

Quentin put his paper down to stand up. "I'm headed into work as well. I'll drive you."

"Thanks," Laurel beamed. Then she stepped toward the table to peck Donna on the cheek and hug Felicity goodbye. "Lissy, are we still on for lunch later?"

"Sure," she answered as she returned her step sister's hug. "Noon?"

"Perfect. See you later!"

Quentin took his turn to kiss his wife and say goodbye to his step daughter, and then the two of them were gone, leaving Donna and Felicity in the kitchen alone.

"Do you know if Laurel's seeing anyone?" Donna asked her daughter.

Felicity took her father's abandoned paper and started skimming through the headlines. "Um, I believe her exact words about her love life were, 'I would rather be forced to eat Mom's banana bread than date any of the losers here in town."

Donna grimaced. "Well that's a little harsh."

Felicity chuckled. Her mother may have had a mind for tiny details, but she couldn't cook a thing to save her life, much like her daughter. The only difference between the two was that Felicity was well aware of her lack of cooking skill and was willing to admit it.

"I just wonder that if she's dating anyone, maybe she would be interested in Tommy Merlyn."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Mom, Laurel's the most beautiful woman for three counties. She doesn't need your help trying to find a man. Hell, she doesn't need to find a man."

"I know, I know!" Donna sighed. "But Quentin and I aren't getting any younger, and I want grandchildren!"

Felicity shook her head at her mother, and chugged down the last drops of her coffee. "I have to get ready for work," she said, standing up from her chair and pecking her mom on the temple. "Laurel and I will be at The Place at noon. Could you save us a table?"

"Of course. I'll see you later, sweetheart!"

With her freshly caffeinated brain, Felicity went back up the stairs to get dressed. Then she threw her messenger back over her shoulder and bounded out of the house, choosing to make the eight-block walk today.

As Felicity walked down Ninth Street, people started waving at her. She waved back, greeting each person by name. When she passed the West home, Iris bounded out of the house to greet her.

"Felicity!" she shouted from the front yard. Iris ran to the street where Felicity stood.

"Hey, Iris," Felicity smiled, giving her friend a hug.

"Did you hear? About the guy who rented out Netherfield?"

"Yeah, my mom was talking about it at breakfast," she answered. "Tommy Merlyn, right?"

"Yeah," Iris grinned. "He's going to be at the Beach Bash. We should go."

Felicity laughed. "Iris, aren't we a little old to be going to the Beach Bash?"

"Oh come on!" she protested. "A hot millionaire is going to be there! Maybe he'll bring his hot, rich friends!"

Felicity rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help her indulging smile. "Fine, I'll see if Laurel wants to come."

"Yes, please make sure Gorgeous Laurel comes," Iris nodded. "We'll _definitely_ be the center of attention if she does."

That made Felicity shake her head. There were few things in this world Laurel hated more than being treated as a novelty strictly for her beauty. If she were here at the moment, she would have told Iris no without a second thought.

Eventually Felicity made it to work. She walked through the front door, the ringing bell alerting Walter to her presence.

"Felicity," he greeted warmly. "I was starting to worry where you were. Two more minutes and I was going to send out a search party."

"Sorry, Walter," she said sheepishly as she pulled her messenger bag off her. "I got waylaid by a few people on the way here."

"It's no trouble, Felicity. I'm just glad you're still alive."

She smiled at her kind boss and immediately settled into work.

If Laurel was the beauty of the county, Felicity was the brain. She was the smartest person within a 500-mile radius, and everyone knew it. In fact, the entire town was littered with evidence of her genius: she maintained the public library's databases, she contracted her services as an amateur information technology expert to the Hertfordshire Daily Record, and no one in town _dared_ to buy a new laptop or tablet or phone without consulting her first.

Yes, Felicity was brilliant, and everyone knew her brilliance was wasted by staying in Hertfordshire.

But the past was the past, and Felicity never once complained about the shitty set of circumstances fate served her. She just put her head down, got a job at Walter's book shop and spent her days doing whatever needed doing, all while daydreaming about a life far away from her small town.

The morning started off the same as any other. Felicity started by updating the store's inventory. Then she dusted off the display shelves, made a few recommendations to inquiring customers and helped them check out. When business was slow, she hid behind the cash register and made progress in the astrophysics textbook she found for cheap online.

Lunchtime rolled around, and Felicity announced to Walter that she was taking her break. She walked the three blocks down to the boardwalk to The Place, where Laurel was waiting for her.

"Hey," she greeted her step sister with a hug. "How have you been in the four hours since I've seen you?"

"Ugh," Laurel sighed. She shook out the paper napkin underneath her utensils and draped it over her pantsuit. "Turns out the guy running the two roving meth labs was Werner Lytle."

Felicity's eyes widened as she took her seat. "Wait, wasn't he Sara's dealer in high school?"

"Why yes he was," Laurel grimaced. "Pretty sure he and Sara dated for a while, too. Anyway, looks like in addition to graduating high school, he also graduated to meth. And something a little more sinister, it looks like. When we confiscated all the stuff in his van, the labs say he was working on a new synthetic. He called it Vertigo in all his notes. He even started referring himself to Count Vertigo."

"Wow, delusions of grandeur," Felicity hummed. "That's definitely something you want in a drug dealer."

"Anyway, let's talk about something else," she insisted. "Let's talk about you. How was your day?"

Felicity shrugged. "Boring. Nothing happens at Walter's book shop on a Friday morning. Oh, but I'm meant to ask — Iris wants us to go to the Beach Bash tonight, and I think we should go."

"Oh God," Laurel rolled her eyes. "It's about Tommy Merlyn, isn't it?"

Felicity laughed. " _She_ wants to go for Tommy Merlyn. _I_ want to go for the funnel cakes."

Donna Smoak interrupted their conversation by bringing glasses of water. "Hi darlings," she greeted, bending down to peck both of them on their cheeks. "Do you two want the special or your regulars?"

"What's the special today?" Felicity asked.

"Catfish."

"Oooh," Felicity sighed. "I'll take that."

"And I'll have my regular," Laurel added.

"Coming right up," Donna chirped. Then she turned on her heel and went off to put in their orders.

Once she was gone, Felicity turned back to her step sister. "So? Where are you on the Beach Bash?"

Laurel sighed. "I'll go, but I'm bailing the minute it gets boring or the minute a bunch of gross tourists start feeling me up, OK?"

Felicity nodded. "That is more than fair."

* * *

Laurel and Felicity both agreed to meet Iris in front of The Place at six. By the time the two sisters made it down, Iris was already there, bouncing up and down on her heels with excitement.

"Yay!" she shouted, running at both them to give them a hug. "You agreed to come!"

Felicity giggled. "Yeah, yeah," she said as she pulled away from the hug. "Any sign of rich boy yet?"

"Yeah," Iris nodded, pointing out toward the sand volleyball pit down the beach. "He got into a pickup game."

"Which one is he?" Felicity asked, shading her eyes and squinting, trying to make out the figures in sun.

"He's got his back to us, but he's the one with the dark hair and the really impressive muscles in the blue swim shorts."

Felicity spotted him immediately. The man in the blue swim shorts was of about average height, but he didn't let that stop him when the ball was flying high above his head. He jumped high to send the ball back over the net with a powerful spike.

Then he turned around to high five his fellow teammates, which gave them all a clear view of his face. And that was the first time Felicity finally understood all the fuss surrounding his arrival.

Tommy Merlyn was what her mother would have called a showstopper. He had a dimpled chin, and eyes blue enough to be mistaken for the ocean. And it certainly didn't hurt that he was grinning from ear to ear, making him look like the most approachable guy in the world.

"Huh," Felicity allowed with an approving nod. "I see now why everyone's made such a fuss over him."

She glanced over to her sister to see what she thought, but for once, Laurel was silent. Felicity could see it in her face, though — she didn't need words to see the approval and intrigue in her hazel eyes.

"You think _he's_ hot," Iris whispered conspiratorially. "You should see the guy he brought with him. Over there, sitting off to the side with the bored look on his face."

Felicity directed her gaze to where Iris was pointing, and holy hell was she right. He wore a white T-shirt and dark green swim shorts, but the clothes didn't hide the fact that he was sporting some serious muscle underneath. Not just that, he had a jawline that could cut glass, shadowed by a bit of blonde-brown scruff. And his brooding, ice blue eyes looked like they were piercing the horizon he stared out at.

"Wow," Felicity breathed. "What's his story?"

"His name is Oliver Queen," Iris answered.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Felicity's eyes widened. "Oliver Queen? _The_ Oliver Queen? As in Queen Consolidated? One of the biggest tech companies on the West Coast?"

"Yeah, and if you think Tommy Merlyn is crazy stupid rich, you should know that Oliver is worth billions. _Billions_ , Felicity."

She let out a low whistle. Wow.

"OK, well they're in the middle of a game right now, so it would be kind of a bother to go up introduce ourselves," Laurel reasoned. "What should we do in the meantime?"

"We could go lay out," Iris suggested. She started tugging at her shirt, revealing her gold bikini top.

"You two go do that, I'm going to go for the funnel cake," Felicity answered, pointing to the stand down on the other end of the boardwalk. "I'll meet you out there."

By the time Felicity got to the stand, there was already a line several people deep. She pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her shorts as she waited, checking all of her RSS feeds.

"Wow, I thought the line would have been shorter by now," a voice said behind her.

Felicity snorted, her eyes still on her phone screen. "Yeah, no such luck, dude. Carly's famous for her funnel cakes. There's going to be a line all night, so you might as well get in now."

"Noted," the voice said, a hint of amusement in its tone. " I sure hope these funnel cakes are worth the wait, at least."

That finally forced Felicity to rip her eyes from her screen. "Are you kidding? These are the best funnel cakes in the county! Hell, they're probably the best funnel cakes in the _state_!"

When she finally turned to see who was behind her, her tongue froze. It was none other than Tommy Merlyn, the same man Iris and Laurel had been ogling at just seconds before.

"I didn't mean to insult," he said genially, his hands up in a non-threatening gesture. "I'm sure these funnel cakes are amazing."

"They are," she said, her tone a little quieter and less accusatory than before. "Hi, I'm Felicity Smoak."

"Tommy Merlyn," he said, shaking her hand. "I'm actually new to town. We just got in today."

"Oh, I know," Felicity assured him. "In a town this small, we townies can spot the newcomers and tourists on sight."

"Right," Tommy laughed. "I didn't realize that a beachside town like this would be so small. But I like it! It's charming and sweet. I ventured into town earlier this afternoon and I got coffee at the cutest little shop I've ever seen."

"Oh, the Mud House?"

"Yeah! All the pastries were ocean themed! I ended up getting a cruller shaped like a starfish. It was delicious."

Felicity giggled. "Yep, well Hertfordshire is a very charming beachside town, that's for sure."

They chattered as the line in front of them got shorter and shorter. Finally it was Felicity's turn.

"Hey, Lissy," Carly greeted. "How are you doing?"

"I'm a whole lot better now that I'm closer to stuffing one of your funnel cakes in my face," Felicity smiled.

Carly laughed. "You got it, darling. What about Laurel and Iris? You taking one to them?"

"Sure, why not?"

A few minutes later, Carly produced two paper plates of lacy funnel cakes, drowned in powdered sugar. Felicity gleefully took them, one on each hand.

"Hey, would you wait up for me?" Tommy asked, just as Felicity started back to her friends. "I want to introduce you to my friend."

"Oh, sure!" Felicity nodded. "I want you to meet my friends, too."

Once they both got their cakes, she led the millionaire to Iris and Laurel, who were both sitting on their beach towels, chattering on about something.

"Guys, look who I ran into," she announced, pointing her head to her companion. "This is Tommy Merlyn. Tommy, this is my best friend, Iris, and my sister, Laurel."

Tommy smiled and shook their hands, but there was something about the flash in his eyes when they landed on Laurel. His smile widened when he greeted her and Felicity noticed the pink blush spread across her sister's cheeks.

"Yeah, and let me introduce you to my friend." He turned caught the attention of Oliver Queen, who was sitting about twenty yards down.

Tommy waved him over, and once he got there, he clapped his hand on his shoulder. "This is my best friend, Oliver Queen. Ollie, this is Felicity, Iris and Laurel."

If Tommy was the gregarious and outgoing one, Oliver was the exact opposite. His eyes were piercing in their ice blue cold, but his distant expression didn't change a bit. Without so much as cracking a smile, he just gave each of them a small wave and said, "Hey."

Felicity took her seat beside Iris, and Tommy plopped down across from them. Oliver — reluctantly, it seemed — took his seat next to his friend.

"I got one for you two," Felicity said as she handed the paper plate to them. "You're welcome."

Laurel laughed, "Thanks, Lissy."

The five of them were preoccupied for a few minutes as they savored the piping hot funnel cake (or funnel crack, as Iris sometimes called it), so conversation halted.

"So what do you think?" Laurel asked as Tommy shoveled bit after bit into his mouth. He was eating it so fast, powdered sugar was smeared all over his face.

"You weren't exaggerating, Felicity," he answered around a bulging mouthful of funnel cake. "This is _amazing_. Here, Ollie, have a bit!"

Oliver made a face at his friend like he'd rather have his prostate examined. "No thanks, Tommy."

"Oh, come on!" he goaded. "It's _really_ good, I promise!"

"You look like that cocaine scene out of _Scarface_ ," was Oliver's only response.

Tommy just shrugged, then continued to eat it on his own.

Once all the funnel cake was demolished, Tommy jumped to his feet. "Wow, I am on an _insane_ sugar high right now, and I've got to work it off. Who wants to play two-on-two volleyball with me?"

"I will," Laurel volunteered.

Tommy's eyes lit up with happiness and Laurel smiled right back at him. Felicity and Iris exchanged knowing glances, then looked away quickly to hide their creeping smiles.

"Do any of you want to play us?" Laurel asked, glancing back at the group.

"Uh, no, we'll let you two play," Felicity winked.

"I'll go with you," Oliver offered.

When Tommy wasn't looking, Laurel stuck her tongue out at her sister, which Felicity returned with interest.

Once they were gone, Felicity turned to Iris and the two of them started giggling.

"Oh my God, they look so cute together," Iris said as she looked down the beach where they had started playing another couple. Oliver Queen, however, sat off to the side, just watching.

"Yeah, they do," Felicity agreed. "Could you imagine the babies they would make?"

"God, they could take over the world with their sheer attractiveness," Iris shook her head.

"Oh, but what about his friend?" Felicity said, gesturing to the stone still Oliver Queen. "What a stiff."

"No kidding," Iris nodded solemnly. "I mean, who turns down funnel cake? What kind of monster says no to funnel cake?"

"You'd think with all the money he has, he'd be able to find a good doctor to remove the stick up his ass," Felicity added.

That made the two of them burst into a fresh round of giggles.

Eventually Iris and Felicity got bored of laying out and decided to join the pick up beach volleyball games. They each took a turn playing with Tommy and against him, which proved to be less fun, since Tommy turned out to be an exceptional beach volleyball player.

As the sun started to set, the Beach Bash winded down, and the young adults abandoned the volleyball games to set up a fire out by the quiet end of the boardwalk.

Iris and Felicity both conspired to have Tommy and Laurel sit together, something that didn't escape Laurel's notice. But before she could growl menacingly at her sister and friend, Tommy said something to reclaim her attention, which only made the two co-conspirators dissolve into another round of giggles.

A few hours later, Felicity had to go to the bathroom. When she emerged, she heard a pair of hushed voices whispering to each other behind the outhouse.

"Jesus, Ollie, would it kill you to socialize with someone?"

Felicity quietly stole around the corner, making sure to keep out of sight, but focusing hard on the conversation. She was her mother's daughter, after all — nosiness ran in the family.

"Why do you care?"

"You just look like you're having a miserable time, and I feel responsible because I was the one who wanted to spend the summer out here."

"Don't worry about me. Focus on spending time with that Laurel girl."

"God, she is the most _gorgeous_ woman I've ever met in my life. Don't you think? And she's smart, too! She's the assistant district attorney here, did you know?"

"No, but that's definitely a step up from the women you usually date, so she's already got my approval."

"What about you, man? Won't you at least _try_ to talk to someone?"

"There's no one here who's worth the attention. You're chatting up the prettiest girl here."

"What about her sister? Felicity?"

The woman in question perked up at the mention of her name.

"She's nice, and she's really funny. I think the two of you could get along."

An impatient grunt. "Nice doesn't mean she could hold two thoughts together in her head. She's probably about as dense as every other hick in this backward town."

Felicity had never actually understood the term "sock to the gut" before. Not until that moment, that was. It honestly felt like Oliver's words had hit her right in the solar plexus, pushing all the air out of her lungs. It was a blow that came with a wave of shock, and it wasn't something she could easily wave off as she stood there, stone still, eavesdropping on a conversation about her and her sister.

"Look, stop trying to get me to socialize with people, OK?" Oliver continued. "Just have fun tonight. Don't worry about me."

A sigh. "Fine. But we're still going to talk about this later."

The conversation stopped and Felicity peeked around the corner to check that they both had gone. Once she was sure of it, she gave them a few minutes head start to return to the bonfire before she followed them.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Iris asked as Felicity plopped down next to her. "You look really pale all of a sudden."

Felicity shook her head and forced a smile on her face. "Nothing, don't worry about it. Hey, pass me a marshmallow, will you?"

Iris turned away to grab one, but while her attention was diverted, Felicity turned to glare at Oliver. He was sitting a few seats down, staring into the fire and poking at the embers with his stick.

What a colossal asshole, she fumed to herself. He'd hardly said two words to her and automatically he was going to assume that she was dumb? How dare he! She had an IQ that couldn't be measured by normal tests! She was the valedictorian of her high school class! She could hack into classified FBI servers in fewer than three minutes without breaking a sweat!

It seemed that money could buy a lot of things, Felicity thought with hatred flowing through her veins, but it couldn't buy class or tact.


	2. Chapter 2

Saturday mornings were Felicity's favorite time of day because it meant two things: doughnuts and girl talk.

Every Saturday morning, she met Iris and Laurel at the Mud House for coffee and doughnuts. It was their time, where they could recap their weeks, gossip about their lives, and revel in each other's company.

This particular morning, Felicity and Iris were both dying to hear about what happened between Tommy Merlyn and Laurel after they left the Beach Bash. It had not escaped Felicity's attention that she didn't hear Laurel come up the stairs until one in the morning.

Laurel must have known what her friends were expecting, because the minute she sat down at their regular table with her mocha latte, the first words out of her mouth were, "I didn't sleep with him."

"Ha!" Felicity crowed. She held her hand out toward Iris who grumbled as she reached into her purse. "I _told_ you!"

"Damn it, Laurel," Iris muttered as she slapped a five dollar bill into Felicity's outstretched palm.

Felicity smirked at her friend, then turned back to her sister. "Far be it for me to chastise you for winning me an easy five bucks, but what stopped you? You two looked really cozy at the Beach Bash."

Laurel shrugged, but there was a soft smile that played across her lips as she looked down at her drink. "I don't know," she said. "It didn't really cross my mind, to be honest. We were just so swept up in our conversation that by midnight, we realized that everyone else had left and the fire was dying out."

"Aww," Iris sighed. "That is the cutest thing in the world."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. You two yammered on so much that you forgot to bone. Absolutely adorable."

Laurel kicked her sister under the table, but Felicity just laughed in return.

"It's not like that, OK?" she said with a chuckle of her own. "I mean, yeah, I definitely think he's attractive, but there's more to him. He's not just some handsome, rich playboy. He's sweet and funny and charming. And he's such a good friend. He spent so much time talking about Oliver and how he was the best friend a guy could ever ask for."

The mention of Oliver Queen abruptly sent Felicity's mood plummeting. It brought back the memory of the night before, when she overheard Oliver and Tommy talking, and Oliver then decided to insult her intelligence.

"Lissy?" Iris asked. "What's with your face? Are you OK?"

"Yeah, just...ugh, Oliver Queen," she grimaced as she stirred her coffee. "It's so weird to me that Tommy can be such good friends with someone like _him_."

"What do you mean?" Laurel inquired.

Felicity took in a deep breath. Once she told them what Oliver had said about her, there really would be no turning back for any of them. Oliver insulting one of the Smoak-Lances was just not tolerated among the town, and what was worse was insulting Felicity's intelligence — doing so made you persona non grata in Hertfordshire.

But Laurel was her cherished sister and Iris was her best friend. If Felicity was going to tell anyone, she most certainly was going to tell them first.

So she recounted the conversation to the best of her recollection. When she was finished, Laurel's jaw was practically hanging an inch off the ground and Iris' eyes were burning with a fury Felicity had rarely seen in her friend.

" _What_?" Iris screeched. "He _said_ that? Are you freaking _kidding_ me?"

Felicity shook her head primly as she took a sip of her coffee. "Nope. Not only does he think I'm an idiot, he thinks this whole town is full of idiots."

"Of all the ever-loving _nerve_!" Iris exclaimed. "Does he know that you had the highest GPA at North Shore High? Does he know that you read astrophysics textbooks in your downtime? Does he know that MENSA offered you a scholarship to MIT?"

"Somehow I don't think he does," Felicity answered. But her best friend's full-throated support of her intelligence definitely lifted her spirits.

"And just who does he think _he_ is to be judging intelligence!" Iris continued. "Ugh, I just can't believe this!"

"Lissy, I'm so sorry," Laurel said, reaching across the table to squeeze her sister's hand with hers. "He is an ass."

Felicity squeezed back and smiled at her sister and her friend. "Don't worry about it," she assured them. "He is an ass, but you ladies are the best for making me feel better about his assholery."

And with that, she gently steered the conversation back to Tommy. Laurel recounted a few of the high points of the conversation, and Felicity marveled at the sudden change she saw in her sister. Laurel _never_ got mushy over a boy. Ever.

This was a first for her, and Felicity couldn't have been happier for her sister.

"OK, OK, I can't take it anymore! Is he taking you on a date or not?" Felicity demanded.

Laurel blushed. "If you really must know, he's planning on taking me out to dinner tonight."

That sent Felicity and Iris into a fit of squeals, followed closely by a few rounds of "Laurel and Tommy, sitting in a tree."

"Well now that we've successfully re-lived the third grade," Laurel deadpanned as she bit into a doughnut.

"Did he say where he was going to take you?" Felicity asked.

"No, but I'm not worried," Laurel answered. "I'm just excited to be spending time with him.

The three of them immediately launched into a discussion of what Laurel should wear and how she should do her hair and makeup, but the woman in question eventually had to leave the Mud House to go back to the office and research something for a case she was working. That left Felicity and Iris alone at the coffee shop.

"Isn't this great?" Felicity sighed as she sipped her second cup of coffee. "I've never seen her so starry-eyed before. She really likes him."

"Yeah," Iris nodded. "I just hope Tommy will notice that."

That made Felicity's eyebrows quirk upward. "What do you mean?"

Iris shrugged. "Laurel's always been the gorgeous, cool beauty, everywhere she goes. She doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve, which has been part of her appeal. It makes her seem mysterious. It makes guys everywhere want to date her to get under her icy exterior."

Icy exterior? That made Felicity laugh. "What in the world are you talking about? Laurel's like the kindest person in the world! No one would ever call her icy, never in a million years!"

"Well you and I know that," Iris insisted. "We've known her all our lives. But people who don't know her as well as we do don't know how to read her. _We_ know that she likes Tommy a lot, but _he_ might not know that."

"She's just modest," Felicity said dismissively. "That's how she is."

"Look, all I'm saying is boys are notoriously dumb at reading women," Iris reasoned. "Laurel should really err on the side of caution and make it absolutely clear that she likes him, before he gets the wrong idea."

But Felicity didn't think much of Iris' warning. Her sister was the catch of all catches: she was smart, beautiful and kind. Any guy would be lucky to have the chance to date her. Surely Tommy Merlyn was smart enough to know his good fortune.

Eventually Felicity also had to leave, since she volunteered for a half shift at the bookstore. She walked through the front door with a to-go cup of the Mud House's dark brew she grabbed for Walter. When she presented it to him, he looked up and beamed at her.

"Thank you, my dear," he said warmly as he took the cup from her. "And thank you again for agreeing to take on a weekend shift. I know there are many other things you'd much rather be doing than working on a Saturday afternoon."

"Don't worry about it, Walter," she smiled. "It's the start of the busy season, I wasn't about to let you take on the crowds on your own."

"You make me sound like an invalid."

"Not at all. Just mildly incompetent when it comes to computers. And I spent a lot of time on that inventory system, so I'm not about to let you break it because you accidentally hit F12 or something."

That made him laugh, and Felicity returned his smile.

With that, she jumped into work, restocking the shelves and doing inventory. There was a steady influx of customers, but about two hours into her shift, Caitlin Snow came running into the store, clutching her laptop to her chest and wearing a terrified expression on her face.

"Felicity!" she shouted once she saw the woman in question. "Felicity, I need your help! Something happened with my laptop while I was working on a big presentation! It went on the fritz and then it went black, and I don't know what to do!"

"OK," Felicity said soothingly, reaching forward to pat Caitlin on the shoulder. "It's OK. We'll figure this out."

Taking the laptop from her, Felicity took the machine up to the counter and plugged it into the laptop she kept behind the cash register. After running a few recovery programs, she transferred all the files from the compromised machine onto a jump drive.

"Here you go," Felicity grinned, handing Caitlin the drive and the laptop. "I managed to get all the information off your computer and put it on this, but it looks like the hardware might be fried. You really ran this thing into the ground."

"Yeah," Caitlin said with a sigh as she took the drive and the broken computer. "This thing got me through undergrad _and_ med school. It feels like the end of an era."

"If you want, I can suggest some new models if you're looking to replace it," Felicity offered.

"That would be great, but right now I really have to get this presentation finished by tomorrow. I have to convince the hospital board to give me five million dollars to invest in next generation heart surgery."

"Oh, wow," Felicity nodded solemnly. "Then get out of here, Dr. Snow. Go save lives."

"Thank you so much, Lissy," Caitlin gushed with a warm smile and a hug. "You definitely saved _my_ life today."

"No worries," she answered as she returned her hug. "I'll see you around."

Caitlin waved goodbye before disappearing out the door. But her retreating figure made the next person in line plainly visible.

To Felicity's great misfortune, it was none other than Oliver Queen.

"Oh," she said, barely trying to conceal her displeasure at his presence. "Hello."

Oliver was a towering presence in that tiny, cramped bookstore. He was dressed simply in a pair of jeans and a henley, but it was clear that he didn't belong there. He was far too dignified to exist even within a meter of Hertfordshire, but still. There he was, a stack of books under his arms.

If he sensed her coldness, he didn't show it. With raised eyebrows, he stepped forward with his selection.

"I thought this was a bookstore, not a laptop repair place," he said.

"It is," Felicity answered tersely.

"Yes, we are first and foremost a bookstore," Walter piped in as he walked toward the counter from the back storage room. "However, that doesn't stop several people in town from seeking out dear Felicity here."

He raised an eyebrow in a weirdly accusatory way and Felicity suddenly felt defensive.

"I'm really good with computers," she said defiantly.

"Oh, don't be modest, my dear," Walter said genially. "You're the _best_ with computers! Really all manner of technology. She's set up every wireless Internet network in town, practically. And she was the one who came up with our inventory system — it's the most efficient, sophisticated program I've ever come across, and it's so easy to use that even I can't screw it up!"

Walter let out a hearty laugh, but all Oliver offered was a polite smile. It was all Felicity could do to stop herself from growling at him.

"Would you like me to check you out?" When she realized how those words sounded in her head, she felt her cheeks flush and she forced her gaze down. "I didn't mean like check you _out_ out, not like anything sexual, I just meant like with the books you're holding, you might want to like pay for them or whatever."

He paused in seeming surprise at her rambling outburst. "I knew what you meant," he said. "And yes, please." He stepped forward to put the books on the counter.

Felicity made quick work of ringing them up, but she couldn't help but notice how different all the titles were. When tourists came to the store, they usually bought light, beach novels. It was why they had a large display of light, easy-reading novels in the front of the store, right by the entrance.

But Oliver definitely had _not_ picked out any of the novels from the display. Instead he picked out a secondhand anthology of Noam Chomsky's works, a linguistics textbook and C.S. Lewis' _Study in Words_.

Yeah, definitely _not_ light beach reading.

"I've been trying to educate myself on the history of communication, and how it can be applied in more of a business setting," he said.

"I didn't ask," Felicity responded, her eyes trained on the cash register's monitor.

"You said it didn't look like very light reading," Oliver pointed out.

She bit down hard on her lip. She'd always had an annoying habit of saying things out loud that really should never have escaped the confines of her brain, and of course that habit would have to rear its ugly head in front of Oliver friggin' Queen.

"Your total is twenty-two sixty-three," she said as she put the books in a plastic bag for him.

He pulled two bills out of his wallet and tossed them over the counter. "Keep the change," he told her grabbing the plastic bag and walking out of the bookstore.

She looked down at the cash he left: two twenties. His change would have been seventeen dollars, and for some reason that infuriated her. Just because you could afford to throw away seventeen dollars didn't mean you _should_. What a dickbag move, she thought to herself.

But whatever. It was his money, he could do whatever. And now it's officially my money, she thought to herself as she pocketed the change with a smirk.

It was like Walter said: every little bit counts.

* * *

The next morning, Felicity stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom that separated her room and Laurel's.

Except Laurel was already in it. And she was hugging the toilet.

"Whoa," she muttered, stopping short of her sister sitting on the floor, her head hanging over the bowl. "Laurel, what's wrong?"

She groaned. "Lissy...I feel like I'm dying…"

Felicity stepped forward and crouched down next to her sister, rubbing slow circles over her back and in between her shoulder blades. "When did this start?"

"Probably an hour ago," Laurel sighed, pulling her hair back from her face. "I woke up this morning with the overwhelming need to puke out my insides, so yay me."

A fresh wave of nausea overtook Laurel and jerked her head forward to heave. Felicity held her sister's hair back, but also turned her head so she wouldn't have to take in the smell.

"Do you think it's something you ate from last night?" Felicity asked when Laurel had finished.

"Probably," she groaned. "He took me to the Anchorhead."

Felicity made a noise of understanding. The Anchorhead was a seafood place known for playing fast and loose with food safety regulations. How the place was still in operation was a mystery.

"Oh no," Laurel suddenly cried out. "What if Tommy's sick too? I have to go see him! I have to make sure he's OK!"

Laurel tried to get up, but her muscles were too weak and Felicity wasn't about to let her go anywhere. "Don't worry about that right now," Felicity insisted. "Right now you're in no condition to be anywhere but this bathroom. Stay here, I'm going to get you a glass of water so you don't dehydrate."

She ran down to the kitchen, then returned to Laurel still draped over the toilet bowl. "Ugh, this is the worst I've ever felt, and that's including the time Dad signed me up for the pie eating contest at the Fall Festival of 2003."

"You poor thing," Felicity murmured. She knelt down and gave her sister her water as she gently brushed away the hair stuck to her sweat covered face. "But aside from the food poisoning, was it at least a good date?"

Laurel smiled feebly. "Yeah, it was. He was sweet. He brought flowers when he came and picked me up. He even got two bouquets: red roses for me and white roses for Mom. She's half in love with him already."

Felicity chuckled. Everyone knew the quickest way to Donna Smoak's heart was with flowers of any kind. Tommy must have done his homework.

"After dinner, we went for a walk on the beach," Laurel continued.

"Typical," Felicity snorted.

"Don't judge, Lissy! We held hands and just talked and we watched the sunset." Laurel sighed. "Then he kissed me as we were sitting on the sand. It was just the two of us. No one else in the world. And you know me, I'm not really the romance-y type at all. I never believed the fireworks in all those romance novels actually existed, but with him...with him, they did."

Felicity couldn't help but grin, her heart melting as Laurel laid out the scene for her. "I'm so happy for you," she grinned, leaning forward to give her sister a hug. "You totally deserve this. Especially after all the douchebags you've dated in the past. Like that one artsy tourist loser who kept writing you emo poetry, then disappeared once the season was over."

"Oh my God, don't remind me," Laurel groaned, and it only made Felicity laugh.

Eventually Laurel's nausea had died down, but she was still feeling weak, so Felicity helped her sister up and back to her room. Once she was settled in her bed with a wastebasket at the ready, Felicity went about her morning routine, taking her shower and getting dressed.

Once she got to the kitchen for her morning cup of java, she saw her father sitting at the kitchen table with his newspaper, as usual, a mug of lukewarm coffee sitting beside him.

"Hey Dad," she greeted him.

He grunted his response.

"Where's Mom?"

"She said something about a sale down at the Polka-Dotted Pig or something," he said, not looking up from the paper. "You know how she gets."

Felicity chuckled. "Yeah. Lord knows we don't need another garden gnome in a Hawaiian shirt, though."

Quentin snorted, then folded his paper back up and set it aside. "So, what are you up to today?"

She sipped on her piping hot coffee. "The Daily Record contracted me to digitize their old editions that they still have on microfiche, so I'm probably going to be spending most of the day doing that."

He made a face at her. "When did that start?"

"Iris called me about it last week. I know it's a long job, but they're paying me hourly, and I don't have a set schedule. I just come in whenever I have a spare moment."

Quentin sighed. "Lissy, don't you think you've been working a little too hard recently?"

Felicity raised her eyebrows. "Not at all."

"You already worked half a shift at the bookstore yesterday, and it was a Saturday. Now you're going to work on a Sunday."

Felicity fidgeted a little uncomfortably. They were broaching a topic that they had not discussed and had chosen to leave untouched for five years.

"You should slow down every now and then and try to enjoy yourself. This is supposed to be the prime of your life. You're supposed to be spending your weekends with your friends, enjoying your youth. You're not supposed to be working yourself to the bone."

"I'm not," she said gently. "I'm just...I'm just trying to save up extra cash, you know?"

Quentin sighed. For a moment, Felicity caught a glimpse at just how tired and...just _sad_ her father looked. It pulled her forward to sit at the table next to him and slip her hand into his. "Don't worry about me," she grinned. "I'm still enjoying myself, OK? I still get to spend time with my friends. I just also happen to be working a lot."

He looked at her with a searching expression. "I just worry sometimes that we robbed you of your youth," he said quietly.

It felt like a fist squeezing around her chest, but she pushed that feeling away and plastered a bright smile to her face. "Dad," she chided, "that's ridiculous. You didn't rob me of anything. I promise."

That brought a temporary smile to his face, but remnants of sadness remained in his eyes. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're a good kid, Lissy."

She squeezed his hand reassuringly and grinned back at him before getting back up to throw a piece of bread into the toaster.

"By the way, I think Laurel's got food poisoning," she said. "Tommy Merlyn apparently took her to the Anchorhead last night."

Quentin grunted. "Not a bright one, is he?"

That made Felicity roll her eyes. Her stepfather had never been very fond of any of the men Laurel dated, despite the fact that there weren't many to begin with. He contended that none of them were good enough for his beloved daughter, and Felicity found herself agreeing with him more often than not.

Tommy, however, seemed different.

"He's a tourist, Dad," she said, sipping at her coffee. "You know that place is basically a tourist trap."

He grunted his reply.

When Felicity's toast was finished, she wolfed it down quickly and finished off her coffee. Then she waved goodbye to her stepfather and headed out the door, but the minute she opened it, someone was already standing on the front step, his fist raised as if to knock.

It was none other than Tommy Merlyn himself.

"Oh," she greeted in surprise. "Tommy! What are you doing here?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Hi, Felicity. I'm, um, well I came over because Laurel said something about not feeling well and I wanted to see her."

Felicity felt her heart melt at the idea. There were few things sweeter than a guy coming to visit the girl he liked while she was feeling sick. Glancing down, she noticed he was even holding a bag that looked like it was filled with food and other comfort items.

"Come on in," she said, stepping aside and letting him in. "She's upstairs — her room's on the left."

"Thanks," he smiled. "I just feel so terrible that I got her sick. Lesson learned, I'm never going to the Anchorhead again."

Felicity smiled. "Good call."

She was about to turn and walk out the door, but Tommy said, "You know, maybe I think we could all go out some time."

She paused mid step, then turned slowly to face him, her face frozen in a careful mask. "We?" she asked.

"Yeah. You, Laurel, Oliver and me," he said with a genial grin. "It would be a lot of fun."

Felicity's eye twitched. Not by any stretch of the imagination, sober or hopped up on meth, could a double date with Oliver Queen be considered fun.

"We'll see," she hedged, trying very hard to keep her voice neutral. "Anyway, you have to go see Laurel and I have to be somewhere. I'll see you later."

She waved goodbye before her face and bolted out the door could dissolve into a grimace of disgust. Ugh, just the _thought_ of going on a double date with Oliver Queen made her feel like she got her own bout of food poisoning.

Walking down to the Daily Record, she could only hope that by the time she got home, the subject would be dropped.

Unfortunately, no such luck was to be had. She got home later that night and collapsed onto her bed, rubbing her tired eyes under her glasses to get rid of the ache of staring at a computer screen all day. But the minute she started to relax, a soft knock came at her door.

"Come in," she called.

Laurel opened the door, still dressed in her pajamas. "Hey," she smiled.

"Hey yourself," Felicity answered with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better," she answered, settling onto the bed next to her sister.

"Yeah, I bet the visit of a certain young millionaire certainly helped."

Laurel shoved gently at her sister, but Felicity just laughed.

"Speaking of which, Tommy actually shared an interesting idea while he was over," she began.

Felicity felt her heart drop in her chest, knowing what would come next.

"Tommy told me that Oliver has had some trouble getting out and enjoying himself," she began. "And he actually suggested that we all go out to dinner some time."

Felicity groaned and pressed a hand over her face. "Laurel…"

"I know, I know! This is probably the last thing in the world that you'd like to do, but I really think you should give him a second chance! He was probably just nervous."

"He called me stupid, Laurel," Felicity reminded her. " _Me_. He called _me_ stupid. There are a lot of things that I am, but stupid is _not_ one of them."

"Come on, Lissy," Laurel whined. She puckered her lower lip in an absurd pout. "Please do it. For me? Pleeeeaaaase?"

Felicity sighed. She loved her sister dearly, and she could never say no to her.

"Fine," she bit out. "I'll go, but I'm not going to have any fun."

* * *

Felicity's declaration turned out to be less a declaration and more so a prediction.

Laurel and Tommy did the bulk of the planning, and they agreed to meet each other at The Place for dinner on Wednesday evening. Felicity would have gone to the dinner dressed in her sweats, but Laurel wouldn't allow it.

Which was precisely why Felicity was wearing a white sundress with pink and red roses printed all over it, coupled with a pair of strappy gold wedges and gold hoop earrings to match. Laurel had also forced her to put on makeup, so she actually would look presentable for the evening.

"Remember, one snide remark or insult and I am _out_ of there," Felicity hissed at her sister before they entered the restaurant.

"I know, I know," Laurel whispered. "I promise I won't stop you."

The restaurant was crowded with a mix of tourists and locals when they walked in. Donna swooped by, her arms loaded with empty plates. "Hi, darlings. Your cute dates are over in the corner booth," she winked.

Laurel grinned and grabbed Felicity's arm, leading them both to the corner booth. Sure enough, Tommy and Oliver were already there.

"Hey," Tommy grinned, standing up once he spotted them. He gave Felicity a quick hug then gave Laurel a much longer one. "It's nice to see you ladies. You both look lovely. Don't they, Oliver?"

The man himself made a noncommittal grunt.

Laurel slid into the seat next to Tommy while Felicity tamped down her dread and slowly sat down next to Oliver.

"I must say, I'd never expected a restaurant called 'The Place' to be quite so busy," Tommy joked.

"Oh, it's the best restaurant in town," Laurel nodded. "The owner used to work at a fancy restaurant in Star City, but then he moved out here because he wanted to be near the ocean."

"Then you'd think the chef would pick out a more descriptive name than 'The Place,'" Oliver muttered under his breath.

Felicity rolled her eyes before shaking her napkin out from under her utensils and draping it over her lap.

Donna came swooping toward their table with her usual smile. "Well hello," she beamed. "What can I get you to drink?"

"I'll have an iced tea," Tommy told her.

"And I'll just take a water," Oliver added.

"Coming right up!" she chirped before she swept away, almost as quickly as she'd appeared.

Tommy frowned at her retreating figure. "Wait, you forgot — " He turned to Laurel with a dismayed expression. "She forgot to take your orders."

"Oh, she already knows our drink orders," Laurel said dismissively.

Tommy blinked. "She does? Wow, so you guys really are regulars here."

"Well that and she just happens to be my mom," Felicity said.

This time it was Oliver who registered his surprise.

" _That's_ your mother?" he asked, incredulity written all over his face.

Felicity felt her skin prickle at the implication clear in his voice. "Yes," she bit out. Her voice was bordering on hostile and she felt Laurel kick her underneath the table. "She's my mom. Laurel's stepmom. She knows everyone here practically by name."

"Oh, you two are stepsisters?" Tommy asked. "I didn't realize. I thought you were biologically related."

"Nope," Laurel shook her head. "My mom died when I was eight and my little sister Sara was five. A year later, Felicity and her mom moved to town and my dad fell head over heels in love with Donna. Two years after that, they got married."

"But we're practically biological sisters," Felicity smiled warmly. "We've been best friends ever since Mom and I moved here."

"What about this other sister you mentioned?" Tommy asked. "Sara?"

Laurel smiled. "She's the youngest of us. She's in the Army right now, stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado."

Felicity's stomach clenched inside of her at the mention of her younger step sister.

Thankfully, Donna chose that exact moment to return with everyone's drinks. Tommy got his iced tea and Oliver his water, while Laurel and Felicity both got their pink lemonades.

"So," Donna trilled, "have you gotten the chance to look at the menus or are you still trying to decide?"

"Oh," Tommy started, staring down at the menu that he had ignored ever since Laurel and Felicity walked in. "I'm still trying to decide."

She giggled. "If I may suggest, why don't you go for our famous lobster roll? It's hearty enough to fill you up, but it's light enough to not rule out anything you might have planned for the future, if you know what I mean."

Felicity's eyes widened behind her glasses. She watched as poor Laurel turned completely red in front of her.

"Or you could have the shrimp tacos," Felicity said quickly, hoping to diffuse the awkwardness. "They have the shrimp brought in fresh every morning and the chef puts something in the crema that makes you crave it. Which is what I'm going to have."

"Yes, me too," Laurel added. "With pineapple and mango salsa, please."

"Um, that sounds delicious," Tommy said, seemingly trying to hold in his laughter. "Why don't you put in for a third?"

"I'll take the eight-ounce sirloin, rare," Oliver said, his face completely impassive as he handed back the menu.

"Ah, a man who likes his meat rare is a man after my own heart," Donna giggled. "You got it, sugar."

She gathered up all the menus and left with a wink. Felicity felt like walking outside straight to the beach to bury her head in the sand and pretending like none of that had actually happened.

"Sorry about that," Laurel said, her face still bright red. "Our mom's kind of...colorful."

"That's one way to put it," Felicity sighed.

"Yeah," Tommy smiled. "But I think it's nice to have a mother figure, no matter how colorful. My own mom also passed away when I was young."

"Really?" Laurel's eyes softened as she turned to her date. "I'm so sorry."

Felicity grinned to herself, but cast her eyes away. She felt as if she were intruding on a very private, intimate moment, so she clenched her jaw and turned to the man sitting beside her.

"So, Oliver," she said in as friendly a voice as she could muster, "how are you enjoying Hertfordshire so far?"

"It's fine," he answered, not bothering to look at Felicity. "There isn't a lot to do, compared to Star City, but it's adequate."

Adequate. What a condescending word, she grimaced to herself. Adequate.

"Well I'm sure your summer reading has kept you occupied," Felicity muttered.

She felt his eyes turn to land on her, but she refused to meet them. If he was going to act all high and mighty, then she wasn't going to engage in any of it.

"I don't actually have any siblings," Felicity heard Tommy telling Laurel. "But Oliver has a little sister, Thea. She's almost my sister by proxy at this point."

"Oh, really?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah, she's in college right now," Tommy nodded. "Hey, Ollie, how is Thea? Is she enjoying college so far? Is she still as accomplished as ever?"

"She's doing very well," Oliver responded. Felicity finally looked up at him and...and did she detect just the slightest twinkle in his eye?

Impossible, she told herself. Oliver Queen wasn't capable of twinkles, because twinkles proved he was human, and Oliver Queen was most definitely _not_ human.

And Felicity's denial of Oliver's humanity had nothing to do with just how ridiculously attractive she found him when there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"Thea is a fantastic piano player," Tommy continued. "She's also fluent in French and Italian, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is," Oliver nodded. "It comes from her vocal training."

"Oh, and she's trained in krav maga," Tommy added. "She took it up in high school as an outlet, and she's kept up with it. The other day she pinned me in two moves. Straight flipped me over her head."

"Wow," Laurel intoned with an impressed nod. "She really is accomplished."

"Yes, well it was important to our mother to be as well-rounded as possible," Oliver shrugged.

"That's incredible," Laurel smiled. "It's also really refreshing, since a lot of parents nowadays just plop their kids in front of computers and television screens and let monitors teach them things instead."

"Yes, our mother was very adamant that we didn't spend time in front of the television. Growing up, we only had one TV in the whole house, and it was in our living room. We were also allowed very limited screen time, from computers to cell phones until we got older. We hated it growing up, but she was right — we're better people for it."

"Yes, today's children are crippled by all the screens that surround them," Laurel nodded. But Felicity scoffed and crossed her arms across her chest.

Laurel grinned at her sister from across the table.

"Though I know Lissy disagrees with me," she smiled.

Oliver turned a curious gaze to Felicity. "Really? You don't think today's children rely too heavily on technology? Probably to their developmental detriment?"

She rolled her eyes. "I think people who don't let their children use smartphones and tablets at a young age are incredibly shortsighted. First of all, widespread smartphone and tablet use is still too recent to have done any proper, long-term studies on early childhood development. Second of all, why _don't_ we want our children to be technologically proficient, considering that's where society's headed?"

"Because socializing online isn't the same as face-to-face interaction," Oliver answered, his eyebrows raised. "We're raising a generation of poorly socialized children. All they know how to do is swipe around on a touch screen. They're not learning _real_ skills."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Queen, but the last time I checked, your family runs one of the biggest technology companies in the country," Felicity retorted. "And the reason you and your family have made your billions is because you were all smart enough to realize that touch screen technology was the wave of the future. It was important to hire engineers and programmers who know how it works and can make innovations to make it even more intuitive."

Oliver didn't say anything, he just continued to stare at her. Felicity took that as an invitation to keep going.

"Technological literacy is important because more of our lives are spent interacting with technology," Felicity said. "You might think it's making our children dumber or making us socially crippled, but the fact is that people have been saying that since the beginning of time. You don't think that people during the World War I were bemoaning short attention spans thanks to radio? You don't think people in the 1950s kept complaining about television turning kids' brains to mush? With every technological advance, there's always a group of people dragging their heels and fighting progress because they can't stand change."

Oliver looked surprised, but Felicity couldn't care less. She was far too heated at this point to pump the breaks on her rant.

"It's great that your sister can play the piano and knows krav maga and multiple languages," she continued. "But she probably had highly qualified public tutors and coaches to help her with all of that, didn't she?"

Oliver nodded slowly.

"Well thanks to the Internet and technology, people who can't afford those tutors and coaches can learn new languages on the Internet. They can even practice those languages by conversing with someone from another country without having to leave your house."

Felicity scowled right at him before giving her final point.

"So next time you should probably think before you open your mouth and talk about how technology is ruining society. As the heir to a huge technological fortune, it makes you look like an idiot."

Silence descended over the table, and Felicity reached for her glass of lemonade, taking a long sip. She pointedly ignored Oliver's gaze and sucked down her cold drink, hoping it would cool the heat in her cheeks.

"I'm sorry if something I said insulted you," Oliver finally said, breaking the silence.

He had no idea, Felicity thought viciously to herself. Ugh, this guy. He was such a pompous, self-important, short-sighted jackass.

She glanced across the table and Laurel was smiling apologetically at her.

Her sister owed her _so big._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: AHHHH! I'm so sorry this was late! The problem with agreeing to update on Tuesdays is that it's an election year here in the states, and for some reason elections are always on a Tuesday which makes my job a freaking nightmare.**

 **But I promise I'll try my hardest to stick to the Tuesday schedule from now on!**

* * *

 _Lissy! Are you ready for me?_

Felicity smiled at her phone. The message was from none other than her high school best friend, Barry Allen.

 _I'm so excited!_ she typed back.

With a huge grin, she bounded down the stairs where her father was stirring the marinara sauce in a pot big enough for babies to wade in. "I hope you're hungry, because I think I've made enough spaghetti to feed the town," Quentin told her.

"I'm starving," she answered as she made a beeline for the cabinets and started pulling out the plates and cups. "All I had at lunch today was a stale muffin."

Quentin glanced up as his step daughter set the table. "And what's got you all smiley?"

"Barry's coming home," she answered. "He's going to be in town for two weeks, so we're going to do all the townie stuff he misses, like getting coffee at the Mud House and beach bonfires and stuff."

Quentin grunted. "What's he doing with his life, anyway?"

"He's working as a CSI in Central City," Felicity answered. "He said he sees a _lot_ of weird stuff, but he loves it."

"I imagine so," he nodded. "I don't know why you liked to hang out with him so much. He was always such a weird kid."

"Dad," Felicity rolled her eyes. "He liked math and science. That didn't make him weird."

Quentin grunted again. "Well, I'll say this much for that Allen kid — he never gave me any trouble. Not like the other kids in your grade who were smoking joints down by the skate park or sneaking booze onto the boardwalk at night."

"I remember," Felicity nodded. "Pretty sure you were the reason I was unpopular all throughout high school."

"It certainly didn't help that you dressed like some depressed vampire," Quentin added.

Felicity giggled and Quentin gave her a tiny smile.

Ten minutes later, Laurel came barrelling through the front door. "Hi Dad, hi Lissy!" she shouted on her way up the stairs, not even bothering to poke her head into the kitchen.

Quentin raised his eyebrows. "What's her deal?"

Felicity took the pot of spaghetti and placed it on the table. "She's got a date. Tommy Merlyn's coming to pick her up in half an hour."

He snorted. "What's she see in that fancy pretty boy anyway? Your mother won't stop gushing about this guy, saying she thinks he's the one. She predicts that next summer they're going to get married."

She laughed. "It's got you freaked out, doesn't it?"

Quentin scowled.

"Well if she does end up marrying Tommy, she could do a lot worse than him. He's a good guy who treats her well. I've seen it first hand. He dotes on her. He acts like she's the only woman in the room. Everything you'd want out of a potential son-in-law."

"I still don't trust him. He's an out-of-towner. You can never trust them."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic."

Right as they were about to sit down at the table for dinner, the doorbell rang.

"LISSY, CAN YOU GET THAT?" Laurel shouted from upstairs.

She obliged, standing up from her chair and walking to the door to let Tommy Merlyn in.

"She'll be just a second," Felicity told him with a smile.

"Thanks," he said as he followed her into the kitchen, where Quentin was waiting, leaning against the island counter.

"You must be Tommy Merlyn," he growled, his eyes narrowed and his expression hostile.

"Yes," Tommy answered cheerfully. "You must be Mr. Lance, it's very nice to meet you."

Tommy offered Quentin his hand. The latter merely raised an eyebrow in response. "That's _Detective_ Lance," he answered, taking him up on his handshake.

Tommy winced ever so slightly, but he otherwise didn't let his discomfort show. "Right. Well it's very nice to meet you, sir. Laurel's told me a lot about you."

Quentin dropped the hand and grunted before walking away. Felicity tried to hide her smile at her stepfather's gruff introduction.

When Quentin left, Tommy turned to Felicity. "So, how are you?"

"I'm well. You?"

"Good. I had a really great time the other night, when it was the four of us. Your mother was a hoot."

Felicity grimaced as she remembered the rest of the failed double date. Her mother inadvertently spent the night flirting with both Tommy _and_ Oliver, and even made a few more references to Laurel and Tommy's sex life. And on top of all that, Oliver continued to be a taciturn asshole, eating in silence and responding to all of Felicity's inquiries with monosyllabic answers.

Luckily, Tommy and Laurel were so ensconced in their own little bubble of love that they didn't notice any of it. And for Felicity, that was worth the torture — she'd grumble and complain about it, but truthfully she'd brave a thousand terrible double dates so long as her sister had a good time.

"I'm glad," Felicity finally said in response. "I know Laurel enjoyed herself."

"Yes, so did Oliver."

She quirked an eyebrow upward. "You're kidding."

"No, not at all. When we got home, he said that was the most stimulating conversation he'd had in a long time."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "No offense, Tommy, but that doesn't really count as enjoyment."

"Well when your name is Oliver Queen, it does," he smiled. "But all jokes aside, he really did have a fun time. And I think he actually likes you."

That made Felicity burst out laughing. Oliver Queen? Oliver Queen didn't like anything. He was an unfeeling, emotionless robot who spent his vacation reading linguistics textbooks and refused to have any fun.

Luckily, before Felicity could actually put words to the thoughts running through her mind, Laurel chose that moment to descend the stairs. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," Felicity answered between giggles. "You two should get going, before Dad decides now would be a great time to polish his service weapon."

Tommy grinned as he reached forward to take Laurel's hand. "Don't need to tell me twice. It was nice talking to you, Felicity."

She waved them both off and closed the front door after them. Then she walked back to the dining room where her dad and a big plate of spaghetti awaited her.

* * *

There are a lot of things about Barry Allen that Felicity could rely on.

For example, she could always rely on him to answer her texts within five minutes. She could always rely on him to share in her excitement over any sort of big, technological announcement. She could also rely on him to be there for her when she needed him most, as he had been all throughout high school and much of their adult life.

And, of course, she could always rely on him being late to literally _everything_.

Having been his friend for most of their lives, however, she'd long since gotten used to it. It's why she knew to bring her astrophysics text to the Mud House with her the day of his return as she waited for Barry to show up.

"That certainly isn't very light reading," a low, baritone voice said.

She tore her gaze from her book and found Oliver Queen hovering over her, his piercing blue eyes trained on her book. Her heart almost gave a little stutter when she realized just how close he was.

"I know," she bit out. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," he answered, stepping back a little to look at her. "I just noticed you were sitting here by yourself, and I wanted to know what you were reading."

"Well I'm not really here by myself," she told him. "I'm waiting for a friend."

"Ah."

But the news that she was expecting someone didn't move him. He continued to stand there, awkwardly, like he was on the verge of saying something but couldn't find the words to express them properly.

"I was at the bookstore the other day," he said finally. "You weren't there."

That made her eyebrows shoot up her forehead. "I usually don't work there Thursday afternoons," she answered. "I spend Thursdays doing contracted maintenance work for the city's IT systems."

He hummed a noise of acknowledgement. "I'm starting to get the feeling that you're very interested in science and technology."

Well spotted, she thought sarcastically to herself.

But she didn't say that. Instead, she replied, "Is there a question in that?"

He shrugged. "Not really. It's just a statement, I guess. You don't meet very many women who are interested in science and technology."

"That's because Felicity Smoak isn't very many women," a voice said.

Felicity's head turned to spot the source of the answer and much to her delight, it was none other than Barry Allen.

"Barry!" she shouted with excitement. Immediately, she jumped from her seat to throw her arms around him.

He chuckled as he returned the hug.

"Hey, Lissy," he greeted warmly. "Sorry for being late."

That just made Felicity laugh. "Are you kidding, Barry? If you were on time, I'd have been seriously worried about you."

He grinned at her, then turned his attention to Oliver Queen, who stood like a statue, watching the exchange unfold. "Hi," he said. "I'm Barry Allen."

"Oliver Queen." They shook hands briefly.

"Wow, _the_ Oliver Queen?" Barry asked, mildly impressed. "That's so cool! What are you doing here in Hertfordshire?"

"Vacation," Oliver replied.

"Cool," Barry nodded. "Though I bet you haven't had much chance to get away from work. Lissy here's probably been asking you nonstop questions about what QC is working on, hasn't she?"

Oliver shook his head. "Quite the opposite, actually. She's been rather reserved around me."

Felicity's cheeks reddened as Oliver's gaze landed on her. She couldn't understand why he looked at her like that, with those piercing, ice-blue eyes of his. Like he was trying to X-ray into her brain. Maybe that's how he looked at all the people he thought were stupid.

"Well, I'll let you have your coffee," Oliver finally said. "It was nice meeting you, Barry. And it was a pleasure as always, Felicity."

She gave him a lame wave in return. Once he was gone, she and Barry took their seats.

"So, Oliver Queen! In Hertfordshire!" He was beaming like a kid on Christmas morning. "That's gotta be exciting!"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Please, let's not ruin the happiness of our reunion with talk of Oliver Queen. Tell me about your life in Central City. I want to know everything about it!"

He laughed and gave a shrug. "I mean, you already know pretty much all of it. I got to work my first really gruesome homicide the other day. This guy had all his limbs severed with what looked like a chainsaw."

"That's sick," she said in a voice full of awe and disgust.

He shrugged. "The detectives are saying it looks like a revenge story."

"And what about stuff outside of work?" she prodded. "What about your social life? Have you made friends in the city? Have you started dating?"

Barry let out a soft laugh and looked down at his coffee, "Uh, not really," he hedged. "I don't know, just...just not a lot of girls who've caught my attention, I guess."

She rolled her eyes. "No offense, Barry, but Jennifer Aniston herself would have to smack you over the head with an anvil to get your attention."

He chuckled.

"Seriously, do you mean to tell me you haven't gone on a _single_ date since you've been in Central City?"

He shrugged. "I know, I know. My captain keeps telling me the same thing. 'Allen, you need to let loose every now and then. This job is a soul crusher. You need to have a healthy social life, otherwise you'll drown in sadness of it all.' Yadda, yadda, yadda."

"He's right, you know."

Barry waved that away. "Look, whatever. Let's not talk about me. Let's talk about you. How have you been?"

"Good," Felicity nodded. "I'm _really_ close to paying off that loan and hitting my savings goal. I think if I keep working through the end of the tourist season and a little into the fall, I'll finally have enough and I can move out of here for good."

"Wow, that's great," he gushed. "I'm so excited for you."

"I know," she beamed. "It's been five years of nonstop work, but I'm almost there."

"Do you know where you want to go?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I've been toying with the idea of applying for some grunt IT position at Wayne Enterprises in Gotham. I've also considered maybe an internship at Ferris Air. I've been really into astrophysics and aeronautical engineering recently."

He nodded. "Yeah, those all sound like good plans." Then, suddenly Barry's face lit up. "Or, hey! What about coming to STAR Labs in Central City? They're always in need of tech geeks like you!"

She smiled. "That _would_ be a lot of fun. We'd be in the same city again."

"Remember in high school when we'd talk about what we'd be like when we were adults? We always talked about renting an apartment together."

"Yeah," she sighed reminiscently. "We could have Marvel movie marathons and nonstop games of Scrabble. We could even go out together on the weekends. I could even be your wingwoman. Make sure you were meeting interesting girls."

Barry's face took on an expression that Felicity couldn't quite read. "Yeah. Yeah, exactly."

His response seemed just a smidge less enthused than he had been seconds before. She didn't say a word about it, but she took a mental snapshot of his face and filed it away with the slightly forlorn tone in her brain for later examination and prodding.

But for now, she was just content to be reunited with one of her oldest friends.

* * *

That Saturday, Laurel had big news for Iris and Felicity.

"Tommy's going to throw a big party," she announced once all three of them sat down. "It's going to be huge. He's inviting practically everyone in town, and you both have to come."

Felicity and Iris glanced at one another, then shrugged. "Yeah, sure," Felicity nodded. "Not like I have anything better to do anyway."

"When is it?" Iris asked as she sipped her coffee.

"It's two weeks from now. It's going to be celebrating the end of the season."

"Hey, speaking of the end of the season," Felicity said as she tapped the back of her sister's hand, "have you and Tommy talked about that?"

"Talked about what?"

"About what's going to happen after the season's over," Felicity answered. "I mean, I'm assuming he's not going to stay here forever. He and Oliver are only here on vacation. Once September rolls around, he'll go back to Star City won't he? What happens after that?"

Laurel's smile fell off her face, and Felicity felt bad about bringing it up. "No, we haven't talked about it," she answered.

"At all?" Iris prodded gently.

"I mean, we've been having such a great time with one another," she confessed. "And I didn't want to be _that_ girl, you know? I didn't want to be the one who thinks this is something more than it is."

"But you want it to be, don't you?" Felicity asked.

Laurel sighed and pulled her gaze away to stare out the window. "I want a lot of things, Felicity. Of _course_ I want this to last longer than the summer. But I don't know what he wants. I don't know if he feels the same thing."

"That's why you talk to him," Felicity insisted. "I mean, for crying out loud, Laurel! You two have been inseparable since he arrived! You spend every evening together! You clearly have a lot of feelings for the guy, and that doesn't just go away when the calendar changes!"

"She's right," Iris nodded. "You need to talk to him."

"But what if _he_ doesn't feel the same way?" Laurel's voice had taken on a sadness and uncertainty Felicity had never heard before. "What if he doesn't want this to go past the summer? What if this is just another fling for him and he goes back to Star City? Back to his life, back to another woman?"

"First of all, I seriously doubt that he doesn't feel the way you do," Iris said firmly. "I've seen the way he looks at you. We _all_ have. He looks at you like you hung the moon."

"Yeah," Felicity echoed. "He's infatuated with you. I mean, just the other day when we were all down on the beach bonfire, Mary King was in her skimpy pink bikini and she was all over him, but he didn't even notice because he was staring so hard at you."

"But if you don't believe us and you need to know how he feels, you need to ask him yourself," Iris said. "You two need to be on the same page before he leaves."

Laurel sighed. "I know. You both are right. It's just...I just wish the summer didn't have to end. That we could stay here, in this bubble forever."

Felicity smiled sadly at her sister. "I know."

Silence fell over the three women for a brief moment. But Iris wasn't one to let melancholy envelop them for very long, so she broke the silence with a question. "So, Lissy, what have you been up to recently? Other than working your butt off, as usual. I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you."

Felicity chuckled. "I know, I'm sorry. But you know how Barry's in town. I've been spending most of my free time with him."

"Ah, good ol' Barry," Iris nodded. "Has he gotten over his crush on you yet?"

Felicity rolled her eyes. Ever since they were teenagers, Iris and Laurel had held on to this cockamamie notion that Barry Allen had been in love with her. She insisted that they were only friends, and what they had between them was nothing more than sibling love. But it didn't stop the two of them from teasing her about it every so often.

"He never had a crush on me," she said mechanically.

"Oh please," Iris scoffed. "He totally did. In high school he used to look for every excuse to be around you. Remember how he used to spend all those afternoons in the bookstore on your shift?"

"OK, well then by that logic, Oliver Queen's got a crush on me too," Felicity snorted.

Laurel chuckled into her coffee. "Well, if the book cover fits…"

That made Felicity do a double take. "What?"

Her sister shrugged. "I'm just saying, it wouldn't surprise me or anything. Oliver _does_ spend a lot of time at the bookstore."

"Not to _mention_ he spent a lot of time staring at you at the bonfire the other night," Iris added. "You were too busy talking to Barry to notice, but it was there."

"What!" Felicity demanded. "Have you two lost your minds? There's no way!"

"Oh, Lissy," Iris sighed, shaking her head patronizingly. "You've always been terrible at spotting whether someone likes you. It's only to be expected."

Iris and Laurel caught each other's eyes for a brief second, then suddenly the two of them burst into laughter. Felicity narrowed her eyes at the two of them before she tossed the crumpled napkin across the table at her sister.

"You two are the worst," she grumbled.

* * *

"When was the last time you were at the Netherfield Beach House?" Barry asked.

Felicity tapped her chin as she tried to recall. "I think it was senior night," she answered. "That lock-in we had after graduation. What about you?"

"Same," he answered. "God, was that the biggest waste of seventy-five bucks."

She snorted. No kidding. The event, hosted by the school's booster club, was billed as one of those once-in-a-lifetime, best nights of your young adult life. Instead she spent the entire night playing go-fish with Barry and avoiding the rowdy "popular" kids who were shooting pool and doing dive bombs into the ocean in the middle of the night.

Felicity pulled up to the makeshift road behind the house, and already it was packed in with cars. A little ways up the hill sat the gigantic house, already lit and emanating all the sounds of a raucous house party.

"Well this should be fun," Barry smiled.

It should indeed, she thought to herself.

Together they got out of the car and climbed the winding walkway up to the entrance, Barry carrying a case of beer under each arm while Felicity lugged the ice. Once they got to the door, Felicity didn't even have the chance to contemplate ringing the door before Iris whipped it open.

"Lissy!" she shouted. She spread her arms wide open for a hug, though one of her hands held a beer.

"Hey, Iris," she grinned as she stepped into it. "Sorry we got here late."

"Yeah, that was my fault," Barry said sheepishly.

"No kidding," Iris snorted. "Well then hurry up. Get in here."

Felicity and Barry stepped inside, and Iris took the ice bags from her. "Here, let's drop off your supplies in the kitchen and get you a drink."

"Where is everyone?" Barry asked as they followed her. Save for a few people standing around in the living room chatting, there was hardly anyone there.

"Outside," Iris answered. "Tommy lit a fire around the pit and they also got out the net. Then there are a few people in the pool, too."

Felicity shook her head. "I have never, in my life, understood why there is a pool here when the house is right next to the freaking beach."

"Preach," Iris said.

They got to the kitchen where they dumped the ice and the beer. Then Barry grabbed two bottles, knocked the caps off both and handed one to Felicity.

"Thanks," she beamed, taking the bottle from him.

"My pleasure," he smiled back.

Together, the three of them weaved through the massive house to the back deck that overlooked the ocean.

If the inside of the house was quiet and subdued, the outside was anything but. It seemed like half the town was gathered outside, either on the deck eating food fresh off the grill or playing sand volleyball. There were also huge speakers set up strategically throughout the area, playing loud, nondescript party music.

"Wow," Barry said. "Laurel wasn't kidding, was she?"

Felicity shook her head. "No, she certainly wasn't."

Iris abandoned them for someone who called to her on the deck, so Barry and Felicity wandered off onto the beach area, where Laurel and Tommy were sitting by the makeshift sand volleyball pit.

"Lissy!" Laurel called when she saw her sister. "And the one and only Barry Allen!"

Felicity plopped down next to her and gave her a one-armed hug. "Wow, Tommy, you really went all out with this thing," she told him.

"I had to," he said solemnly. "It's the end of summer. We have to celebrate it."

"Yeah, by making sure we'll all hungover tomorrow," Laurel teased.

"Well yeah," Tommy answered, as if the answer was obvious. "How else are we supposed to celebrate?"

The volleyball pit opened up for a game, and Tommy and Laurel immediately stood up. "What do you say, Lissy?" Laurel asked. "Want to play us?"

"Maybe later," she answered. "Barry and I are going to see what's going on with the food situation."

"Suit yourself," Laurel shrugged.

Once she was gone, Barry and Felicity booth stood up and wandered back to the grill, where a guy in a uniform stood, carefully turning over hot dogs and brats, burger patties and kabobs. If it was a grill food, it was there.

"Good lord," Felicity breathed. "This much food could feed the whole town."

"That was the point," a voice said behind her.

She turned around and much to her dismay, Oliver Queen stood behind her, holding an empty plate and waiting to pass through the line.

"Oh," she said. "Hello."

Barry turned as well, already holding five skewers in one hand and a plate full of bratwursts in the other. "Mr. Queen!" he said in excitement. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Well I am staying here," he pointed out.

"Right, of course," Barry nodded quickly. "I knew that."

Oliver looked down at Barry's spoils, then glanced back up with a quirked eyebrow. "Think you've got enough food there?" he asked.

Felicity felt her stomach clench with protective anger. Barry had always been the kid who could eat for days and days without gaining a single pound. And yeah, that always annoyed the shit out of her, but he was her friend and she wasn't about to let Oliver Queen make fun of him in that condescending, asshole-ish way of his.

"Oh," Barry said, looking down as well. "Um, yeah. I tend to eat a lot."

Oliver didn't say anything and Felicity felt her ire growing with every silent moment.

"Well we're going to go eat," she said, breaking the quiet after a long pause. "See you around."

"Felicity, wait."

She and Barry paused in their escape, and she turned with an expectant face.

"I'm on the hook to play a few rounds of volleyball with Tommy and Laurel," he said. "I was wondering if you would be my partner."

To say that Felicity was surprised was really an understatement. It was almost like Nikola Tesla himself descended from the high heavens a la Mufasa from _The Lion King_ and scolded her for running away from her responsibilities.

So in other words, it was completely and utterly baffling.

And her shock was precisely why Felicity found herself saying, "Sure."

With a nod, Oliver abruptly turned and walked away, leaving a stunned Felicity and Barry standing there, the latter slack-jawed.

"What the hell was that?" Barry asked when he finally recovered his powers of speech.

"I have no earthly clue," Felicity answered, still staring after Oliver Queen's back.

Eventually the two of them walked over to the side of the deck where everyone was eating and talking. Felicity took a seat next to Iris and told her, with some lingering confusion, that she was going to be Oliver Queen's partner in the next game, and Iris took in the announcement with mild surprise.

But truthfully, Iris had always had a sneaking suspicion that Oliver Queen had much deeper feelings for her dear friend that he might let on. Of course, Felicity would have laughed her out of the room if she earnestly shared her opinion, so Iris kept it to herself.

Twenty minutes later, Oliver called her name from the pit, and Felicity fought the pit of dread in her stomach as she stood.

"You want me to come with you?" Barry asked.

"Nah, it won't take that long. You know how competitive Laurel can get," Felicity replied. "You stay here. Enjoy the non-awkward company."

"Thanks for taking that bullet for me, Lissy," he grinned.

Taking a deep breath, Felicity walked off the deck and toward the pit, shedding her shorts and her T-shirt as she went to reveal her favorite electric blue bikini. Once she reached Oliver, she saw him staring at her with a strange intensity in his eyes. Sure, she was wearing a scant bikini, but the way he was looking at her made her feel like she was standing naked in front of him.

She couldn't decide if that made her feel uncomfortable or oddly exhilarated.

"You ready to get creamed, Lissy?" Laurel called from the other side of the net.

"You must be talking to Tommy," she answered, "because it's the two of _you_ who are going down."

"In your dreams, my dear," she smirked.

Tommy grinned wryly at his friend. "Ollie, do you get the feeling that we're going to end up the casualties in this game?"

He didn't reply. Instead he reached behind his neck and pulled the back of his shirt upward until he was completely bare-chested.

That stopped Felicity right in her tracks.

It almost wasn't fair, she thought distantly to herself, as she gazed at his glorious upper body. His back and chest and abdomen looked like they were chiseled by the gods themselves, the smooth planes of his muscles showing off just how strong and agile he was. Coupled with his incredible face, he had the ability to break anyone's heart just by smiling at them.

Luckily for Felicity, it had yet to happen. After all, robots were incapable of smiling.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

Startled from her staring, Felicity looked up and gave him a quick nod, fighting the blush that overtook her cheeks.

With that, they both turned to face their opponents who had first serve.

They were pretty well-matched at first. Laurel sent up the serve and Oliver jumped high to send it back over the net. Then Tommy set it and Felicity dived to save it. With a hard spike, Oliver embedded it back into the sand.

"Yes!" Felicity crowed, pointing her gloating smirk at her sister. Oliver, on the other hand, was silent. Because of course.

They played three more rounds. Laurel and Tommy both gained a point while Oliver and Felicity gained two more.

"What's with you?" she finally asked after an impressive bit of teamwork on their part ensured that the ball didn't hit the sand on their side and ended with a point in their favor. "We're winning!"

"I'm aware," he answered.

"Well then why aren't you celebrating? Come on, we're creaming them!"

"I knew we would," he said simply. "Celebrating an assured victory seems cruel and unnecessary."

Felicity didn't know whether to laugh at the subtle shade he threw at the other team or throw up her hands in exasperation. Honestly, all she wanted was a human reaction out of him. Just one. Maybe even a smile or a high five.

Instead all she got was a half-hearted shrug and an unflappably stoic expression.

The game continued. Felicity and Oliver held on to their lead until the very end. With Oliver's one last spike, Felicity threw her arms up in the air and stuck her tongue out at her sister.

"In your face!" she shouted.

"Whatever!" Laurel scoffed. "We totally let you win!"

"Oh yeah right!" she jeered. "Just admit it, we beat you because we're the better team!"

In her euphoria over winning, she turned to her partner and held her arm up. "Come on, Queen! Give me a high five!"

Suddenly, there it was. The brief, fleeting glimpse of humanity she craved to see in him manifested itself in a look of complete and utter surprise. Reluctantly, he lifted his hand and Felicity slapped it with her own, practically high from two victories.

"We make a good team, Queen," she said. In that tiny, snow globe of a moment, she had forgotten what he'd said about her when she first met him. She'd forgotten about his coldness, his lack of feeling, his taciturn personality.

In that moment, he was a partner, and they won.

"Yeah," he answered, the corners of his lips turned upward ever so slightly. "Yeah, I guess we do."

It wasn't a real smile, but it was the closest she'd seen ever since she'd met him. That centimeter of lift completely transformed his face, turning it from heartbreaking stone to breathtaking beauty. Felicity was ashamed to admit that it made her heart thud in her chest.

God, if the tiniest of smile made him look _that handsome_ , just what kind of effect would he have with a full-blown grin?

"Lissy!"

The shout of her name broke the spell. A flood of heat rushed to her cheeks and she turned to find the source of the shout. It came from Iris, who stood on the deck, waving a tiny white ball around in the air.

"Get your butt over here! We're playing beer pong!"

"Coming!" she called back.

"It seems that your partnership is a hot commodity," a low voice said behind her.

The skin on the back of her neck raised at the sound. She didn't turn around because she knew who it was, and she didn't want him to see just how red her face was at the moment.

"I happen to be an exceptionally good partner, that's why," she answered. "It was nice playing with you, Oliver."

With that, she scuttled away from him, desperate to find refuge from his unsettling presence — even if that refuge came in the form of ten red Solo cups filled with beer.


	4. Chapter 4

"Never again," Felicity groaned as she trudged down the stairs and into the ktichen. With eyes still half closed, she grabbed haphazardly along the counter, trying desperately to find the coffee maker.

Her mother was sitting at the table watching her with amusement. "Looks like you had a fun time," she chuckled.

Felicity just grunted her response. Finally her fingers found the handle on the coffee pot and she poured herself a generous cup. She prayed that it would be enough to at least dull the brain bending headache pounding between her temples.

"How did you get home?" Donna asked.

"Barry," Felicity rasped in response. "He was the smart one. He stayed sober."

Donna laughed again. "Well I know being hungover is no fun, but it's nice to see you having fun every once in a while. All you've done lately is work. You're in your twenties. You should be going out like you did last night and having as much fun as possible. You have the rest of your life to be working."

"Well I'm definitely not working today," Felicity said as she lifted her mug and blew across the surface of her coffee. "The minute I finish this, I'm going back upstairs and hiding under my covers."

"Wait," Donna cried, gesturing for her daughter to come forward and take a seat next to her. "Come on, now. You have to tell me what happened at the party last night. Please, let me live vicariously through you."

With a sigh, Felicity did as her mother bid and sat down at the table. "Well, pretty much everyone in town was at that party. Tourists and townies alike. Hundreds of people, really. There was food everywhere. Loads of booze, too."

"So aside from drinking, what did you do there?"

Felicity shrugged. "Barry and I spent most of the night talking to Iris and her friends from the Daily Record. Then Iris and I played a few rounds of beer pong. Oh, and then I had to play volleyball with Oliver Queen." She made a face when she said his name.

"Ooh, Oliver Queen? Wasn't he that cute boy you were with all those months ago when Laurel and Tommy went on that date?"

"Yeah."

Donna squealed. "Oooh, sweetie, is there something going on between the two of you? Come on, you can tell me!"

Felicity groaned. Her mother's squeals were like knives stabbing her repeatedly in the temples. "Moo-oom," she protested. "There's nothing going on between Oliver Queen and me. He's the most insufferable human being on the planet. I'd rather be force fed live scorpions than have anything to do with him."

Donna pouted, but she recovered quickly. "Well then what about your sister? What's going on between her and that adorable Tommy Merlyn?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

"Because she never came home last night," Donna answered. "I assume she stayed at Netherfield."

Felicity shrugged. "Probably. I don't think a lot of us were in any position to drive."

Donna sighed. "Ah, to be young again."

Once Felicity had finished her coffee, she left the mug in the sink, then trudged back up the stairs to her room. The coffee had helped only marginally to dull all the sharpened sensations. She hoped a quick nap would help for good.

Unfortunately, she didn't get to sleep for very long. Almost the second she closed her eyes, her phone's shrill ringing echoed through her room. With a loud groan she rolled over in her bed to yank her phone off her charger.

"Whoever this is, I hope you die walking over a fiery pit of legos," she grunted into her phone.

"Nice to hear from you too, Lissy," Barry's annoyingly chipper voice chuckled on the other end of the phone.

"What do you want?" she rasped.

"I wanted to meet up with you for coffee later today. Obviously when you're in a less...growly mood."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she said. "What time is it now?"

"Um, noon."

"I'll meet you at the Mud House at three. Do not attempt to communicate with me until then." Then she hung up and threw her phone onto her bedside table.

Knowing Barry's penchant for lateness, he'd probably show up closer to 3:20, meaning she didn't have to leave until 3:10. That hopefully would give her enough time to recover from her wicked hangover.

Sure enough, Felicity arrived right at 3:20 and Barry still was nowhere to be seen. Shaking her head at the utter predictability of the situation, she went up to the counter to get a latte while she waited.

Ten minutes later, Barry strode through the front door, looking winded, like he'd run the whole way from his parents' house five miles away. Looking around, he spotted her sitting at a small table by the window and he waved.

"Hey, Lissy," he grinned. "I hope you weren't waiting long."

"Nah," she shrugged. "Gave me more time to make myself feel human instead of the hungover monster I've been all morning."

He shook his head. "I told you, there are no real winners in beer pong."

"Is that what you dragged my ass out of bed for?" she grimaced. "To gloat at me in all your non-hungover glory?"

"Uh, no, actually." Suddenly his smile took on all the qualities of an anxiety that confused her. "I...well, I asked you here because I really needed to tell you something."

Felicity straightened in her seat and waited.

He took in a deep breath. "To be honest, I probably should have told you this a long time ago. I should have told you in high school, when I first realized it."

The words "high school" jolted her. She thought back to Iris and Laurel and all their teasing and suddenly she knew exactly what was coming.

"Felicity, I...I love you. And not in like the, 'I love you because you're my best friend' kind of way — except that you _are_ my best friend and I do love you — but what I mean is I love you in the, 'I want to hold hands with you as we're walking down the beach contemplating our future family' kind of way. And the truth is, I've felt this way about you since freshman year, when you sat next to me in geometry and recognized my Iron Man trapper keeper."

She didn't dare to breathe. The moment Barry started speaking, it was like all time had stood still, and the only one in motion was him. So much as a single blink would propel her forward, disrupting the fragile balance, forcing her to choose between the past where he was her friend and nothing more and the future where a lifetime of holding his hand was a possibility.

"There were so many times in the past when I wanted to tell you," he continued softly. "But I was always too chicken. I'd tell myself that I didn't want to ruin our friendship, or that it was high school and that it would go away, but it didn't. And then the other day we were talking about places where you'd go once you left here and then we talked about how Central City was a possibility and I just...I had to. I had to let you know how I felt."

How he felt. How he felt about her. Because he loved her.

For a split second, Felicity allowed herself to think about what it would be like to be with Barry. It would have been so easy to be his girlfriend. Easy and safe. Barry Allen was the epitome of safety. She'd move to the city with him. They'd get an apartment and adopt a dog. He'd be a CSI at the police department, and she'd go to work as an IT grunt somewhere. They'd argue over dumb stuff like whether to watch "Doctor Who" for the millionth time or finally start watching "Breaking Bad." And then, five years later, while on holiday back home in Hertfordshire, Barry would bring her to the beach at sunset, far away from the boardwalk and all the tourist spots and he'd get down on one knee and propose to her. She'd say yes and they'd get married in a simple ceremony at town hall, with the reception at the Netherfield beach house with all their family and friends.

Barry Allen offered a life of security and comfort.

But Felicity needed more than that. And as much as she wished it were otherwise, she couldn't change what she needed.

"Barry…" she began, "I...I am really, really flattered."

His fists, which lay on the table in front of them, tightened until his knuckles went white.

"But?" he prodded.

"But...but I just don't feel the same way," she finally answered. "I'm really, really sorry."

A long pause stretched out between them, as wide as the distance between Central City and Hertfordshire.

She would have given all of her savings to be able to feel the way about Barry as he did for her. She wanted to save him from the hurt he felt at that moment, because he was her best friend, and it hurt her to see him in pain.

Finally, Barry punctured the silence with a long, heavy sigh.

"Yeah," he said with a quiet chuckle. "I should have seen that coming."

"Barry, I'm so, so sorry."

"Don't be," he shook his head. "It's not like it's your fault. I can't _make_ you love me that way."

"I know, but...but you're my best friend and I really hate being the one to hurt you like this."

He finally looked up from the table and gave her a smile. It was a sad one — kind of far away, kind of wistful. But there was just a hint of the good old Barry Allen in it, that reassured her he would be just fine.

"I know. I know you didn't do any of this on purpose."

Felicity gave him a weak grin in return. "How about I buy you a cup of coffee? To ease the sting?"

He shook his head. "Nah. It's not necessary. I'll just go for a run instead. Help clear my head."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I've got things to work through and stuff. It's best if I work through them alone."

She nodded and stood from her chair as he did. Then she stepped forward and gave him a big, tight hug. "I'm really sorry, Barry."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her hair. "Don't be," he murmured into her ear. "I'm not."

They finally released one another, and with one last wistful glance shot in her direction, Barry stepped away and walked out of the coffee shop.

It left Felicity desperate for a stiff drink, not five hours after she swore to herself never to have another sip of alcohol ever again.

* * *

Felicity spent the rest of the walk back home feeling like a gigantic pile of emotional shit, which didn't help much with her hangover. Her only hope was that Laurel would be there so she could throw herself across her bed and lament over how awful she felt.

"Laurel?" she called the minute she walked through the front door. "Laurel, are you home?"

She heard faint rustling from up the second floor, so she ran up the stairs to her sister's bedroom.

"Laurel?" she asked as she knocked softly at her door.

All she heard was a sniffle, but Felicity took that as an invitation inside. She quietly twisted the doorknob and leaned forward to find her sister already curled up on her bed in her Tweety pajamas, clutching a pillow to her body and sobbing quietly into a tissue.

"Laurel?" Felicity repeated in quiet alarm. In an instant she was at her sister's side, sitting on the bed and stroking her hair away from her face. "Sweetie, what happened?"

She sniffed a few times and swiped at her tears. "He left," she whispered in a shaky voice. "Tommy left. He's gone."

That immediately shoved Felicity's troubled conscience over Barry to a cramped corner of her mind. "What?" she gasped. "Are you serious?"

Laurel sniffed again. "We woke up this morning after the party, but he was acting all quiet and cagey and not at all like himself. Then he took me to brunch and told me he and Oliver were leaving right afterward."

Images of stabbing Tommy Merlyn repeatedly in the face flooded Felicity's mind, but she kept her violence to herself. She'd save it for later, when she talked to Iris.

"He didn't even tell me why," Laurel wailed. "He just said he had an amazing summer, but summer had to end. Then he just dropped a hundred on the table, kissed my forehead and walked out of the restaurant. He didn't even look back, Lissy!"

Felicity clutched her sister's shoulders in the best form of a hug she could offer. "Oh, sweetie," she murmured. "I'm so sorry."

Silence descended upon the sisters. Laurel's sniffles and sobs punctuated it every so often, but for the most part, the two remained quiet. Felicity continued to brush her hand soothingly over Laurel's head as the tears flowed.

"You know what the worst part is?" Laurel finally sniffed. "Last night he told me he loved me."

" _What?_ "

Felicity didn't mean for it to come out like a shout, but she was so surprised by the news that she couldn't help it. She immediately regretted it, though, when Laurel winced.

"Sorry," she quickly whispered. "I mean, what?"

Laurel sniffed again. "Well, he didn't _actually_ say it to me. It was while we were drifting. I had my eyes closed and I was almost asleep, but he whispered it right next to me. He told me he loved me, but he said it to sleeping me."

Felicity felt her heart crack in her chest, and all of her previously violent thoughts dissipated.

"That still counts," she whispered to her sister. "He loves you, Laurel. He said it himself."

That brought on a fresh wave of sobs. "Well if he loves me then why did he leave?" she wailed. "Why did he just disappear without any notice and without any indication of whether we would see each other again? Why, Lissy?"

Laurel's desperate pleas brought tears to Felicity's eyes. "I don't know, sweetie," she answered quietly. "I don't know, but we're going to find out, OK? I promise."

* * *

The problem with living in a town as small as Hertfordshire was that people knew things pretty much the instant they happened.

Felicity walked into the bookstore Monday morning, and Walter was already there unpacking the weekend shipments. Sure enough, the first words out of his mouth were, "Oh, Felicity. How's Laurel holding up?"

She groaned as she walked forward to help him unload the boxes. "How does everyone know already?"

He snorted. "You should know better than to be surprised. The Netherfield beach house is much too big to notice when its inhabitants have left, and everyone in town knew that Merlyn boy was out with your sister."

She let out a sigh. He was right, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"I've never seen her like this, Walter," she confessed. "She spent all last night curled up in her bed crying. It's just so not like her. The last time she broke up with a boy, she looked sad for like a minute. Then she bought herself a Hershey's bar and went back to work like it never happened. But with Tommy...she almost dehydrated herself from all the crying."

He nodded wisely. "Summer romances are hard to come down from. I should know."

That made Felicity's eyebrows shoot upward. "Seriously?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Why do you look so surprised?"

She laughed. "No offense, Walter, I just can't really picture you having a romance of any sort. Much less a summer one."

"What, did you think I was born in this bookstore?" he laughed. "Hardly. There was once a time I was a young man living in this town as well. I'd just moved here from England after uni. It was during my grace period, when I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life."

"What the hell made you want to spend your grace period in Hertfordshire?"

He shrugged. "It was a small town on the beach. I'd always wanted to be near the ocean, and the cost of living here wasn't nearly as exorbitant as you'll find in other beach towns."

She nodded. "OK, so then what?"

"I was renting a room at the Conch Shell a few weeks before the season started. And a woman came through with her group of girlfriends for the summer." Walter's eyes had taken on a reminiscent twinkle. "She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my life. Tall. Blonde. Gorgeous, sparkling blue eyes and a smile whiter than the sand."

"What was her name?"

"Moira. Moira Dearden. She was staying on holiday from uni in Star City."

"Moira, huh? What a fussy name."

He chuckled. "Ah, yes. But she lived up to it. She was a fierce woman. She knew what she wanted and she didn't let anything get in the way of it. In fact, she was the one who asked me out."

"I'm assuming you said yes."

"At the time it seemed more like a pragmatic decision than a romantic one," he nodded. "But we spent the summer together, doing all the things young, flighty couples do."

"So what happened?"

He sighed. "What always happens. The calendar turns and September eventually rolled around. She went back to Star City and I stayed here and opened the bookstore."

Walter's wasn't an unusual story. Living in Hertfordshire meant summer romance stories were practically a dime a dozen. Having a summer boyfriend or girlfriend was practically a rite of passage for all the young townies.

But for Felicity there was just something so...monumentally sad and unfulfilling about the whole practice.

"Did you love her?" Felicity asked.

"I have pondered that many times over the years," he smiled. "And the answer always changes. Sometimes I think I didn't. We always knew that she was going to go back to Star City and I wasn't going to follow her. I tried always to remind myself that what we had was temporary. But then there are days when I think, yeah, I might have loved her. Meeting her changed my life. I'd never known anyone who was so sure about what she wanted. And I like to think a little of her confidence rubbed off on me. If I'd never met her and dated her, I doubt I would have stayed here to open this place. I very likely would have gone back to England working in a stodgy old bank. Could you imagine?"

He grimaced at the thought, and Felicity giggled at his expression.

"So you don't regret it?" she asked after a while. "Being with Moira just for the summer? Not following her?"

He shook his head. "No. We were what we needed each other to be in the moment. If I followed her, she would have ceased to be the beautiful, ambitious Moira that I so admired. I'm certain if I had followed her, I would have held her back somehow."

Felicity turned her thoughts to Laurel and Tommy. Maybe they were just a summer fling. Maybe what they had was only meant to last a couple of months, at most. Maybe it was best that Tommy left now rather than stay and draw out her sister's misery.

But she couldn't forget how her sister's face crumpled in despair when she recalled Tommy telling her he loved her when he thought she was asleep.

Walter might not have known if he was in love with Moira or not, but Felicity knew her sister was in love with Tommy, and Tommy was in love with Laurel. And damn it, she wasn't going to let something as stupid as a calendar get in the way of true love.

So she spent that week coming up with the plan in her head, doing research on her phone in between jobs. By the time Saturday rolled around, she had worked out every kink until it absolutely perfect.

Felicity took her seat at their regular table at the Mud House, right at eleven o'clock. Five minutes later, Iris took her seat across from her with a latte and a soft smile.

"Hey, Lissy," she greeted. "How have you been?"

"Good," Felicity answered. "Things have been hectic with...well, you know."

"Yeah, I figured." Iris sighed and took a sip of her coffee. "How's she taking it?"

Felicity shrugged. "As well as can be expected, I guess? She's putting on a brave face for our mom, for everyone else in town. But at night I can hear sobbing coming from her bedroom."

Iris clucked. "Poor thing."

"What about you? How are you? I feel like I haven't seen you in a while! Since the party, actually."

"Oh." Iris looked down at her drink and fidgeted in her seat a little. "Well, you know how it is. I got busy with work and stuff."

Felicity's eyes narrowed every so slightly. If she didn't know any better, it might have looked like her good friend had something to hide.

Unfortunately she didn't get the chance to pry it out of her, because a few seconds later, Laurel walked into the coffee house. To the untrained eye, she looked as lovely as ever in her dark jeans and black T-shirt. But Felicity knew better. She could see the slightly swollen bags underneath her sister's carefully applied concealer, and she noticed how Laurel's smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

Well, no matter, Felicity thought to herself. She was hoping that by the end of their conversation, she could bring at least a semblance of a genuine smile back to her sister's face.

"Hey," Laurel greeted as she sat down with the plate of doughnuts and her own cup of coffee. "How are you ladies?"

"Good," Iris and Felicity both chanted at the same time.

For the next few minutes, they went through the motions. They went around and talked about work stuff, town gossip, et cetera. But as the catching up part of the conversation started to die down, Felicity cleared her throat like she was about to make an announcement.

"Laurel Lance," she began. "I love you."

Laurel's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "I love you too," she said in slight confusion.

"And it is precisely for this reason that I have decided to give you your birthday gift a little early." Felicity pulled out her phone and tapped a few icons and swiped around until she was finished.

Laurel opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but a buzzing at her hip interrupted her. With a frown, she pulled out her phone and unlocked it to find the source. Once she did, her eyes widened and her frowning mouth instead transformed into an O of wonderment.

"Felicity…" she breathed, "you didn't."

"I did."

"Felicity — "

"Look, before you give me all the reasons why you can't, just let me say a few things, all right? First of all, you _do_ have the time. I checked with your boss and she agreed to give you a month. Hell, I barely had to ask her. She said you don't have any major cases coming up, plus you've racked up so much comp time in the past two years that you legally could take _three_ months off if you wanted. Second of all, the only thing you'll have to pay for is food and drink and transportation around the city. I've already taken care of your hotel and your airfare as you can see from that email. And before you argue with me — " she held up a hand because she could already see her sister trying to interrupt with a protest, " — I've already spent the money. It's non-refundable, too, so if you don't go I'll be really pissed."

Then she took in a deep breath. "And lastly, _you_ need this. You need to do this. You need to find him and get closure. Because this isn't you, Laurel. This girl who's been pretending like she's fine for everyone else but going home and crying herself to sleep is _not_ who you are. You're Laurel freaking Lance, damn it. You're the most beautiful, most incredible woman in the world and you're not going to let something as trivial as a boy problem bring you down. Do you understand?"

Laurel looked down with sad eyes at her phone, then back up at her sister. "Lissy, I'm scared," she finally whispered. "What if I go there and I don't get closure? What if he pretends like none of it ever happen? What if it turns out that it was all just some elaborate dream?"

Felicity took in a deep breath. "Then that's the closure you get. And it'll hurt like hell, but at least you'll finally know. And you can move on."

"What if he doesn't want to talk to me?"

"Then you'll have spent four weeks in Star City. It's called vacation, Laurel. Learn how to take one. Besides, you need to spend some time away from this place."

Tears sprang to Laurel's eyes, and with a sudden outburst, she reached forward and pulled her sister in for a big hug. "Thank you, Lissy. You're the best."

Felicity returned her sister's hug with interest. "I love you, sis."

"I love you, too."

When they pulled away, Laurel swiped the tears away from her eyes. "All right," said with a watery smile. "Well I guess I better go home and start packing."

Felicity nodded. "Go. Get out of here."

She got out of her seat and bent down to peck Felicity on the top of her head. "I'll see you at home." Then she waved goodbye to Iris and ran out of the coffee shop.

"Wow," Iris said. "Where did that come from?"

"He told her he loved her, Iris," Felicity answered. "He told her he loved her! And she loves him, and she never got the chance to tell him. They're perfect for each other, and if they just got it together, they'd be able to see that."

Iris held up two hands, like a form of surrender. "Hey, I'm not judging. I'm all for it. I'm just surprised is all."

Felicity leaned back in her seat. "Yeah, well they're in love, they just don't realize it yet. Oh, and speaking of love, I have to tell you something."

Iris' eyes lit up. "Ooh, something love related. Spill."

Felicity sucked in a deep breath. "Well you know how you and Laurel have been telling me since high school that Barry was in love with me? You were right. He told me so himself on Sunday."

Iris blinked, and for a second it looked like she had turned to stone. "Oh?"

Felicity's brows furrowed as she examined her friend's suddenly stiff posture. "Yeah," she trailed off. "He told me he loved me, but I had to tell him I didn't feel the same way. And it really sucked because I hurt him and I didn't want to."

"Really."

Iris fidgeted in her seat and stirred the lukewarm coffee in her cup, almost like she was trying to look anywhere but at Felicity.

"What's going on with you?" she finally demanded. "Why are you acting so weird all of a sudden?"

"I'm not acting weird," Iris said defensively.

But Felicity just quirked her eyebrow as if to show how much stock she took in that statement.

Iris sighed. " _Fine_. So I...I already knew."

"Knew what?"

"About Barry telling you that he loved you."

Felicity tilted her head. "How?"

Iris sucked in a deep breath. "Because he told me."

Felicity blinked a couple of times, like she was waiting for an anvil to drop from the sky. "OK…" she trailed off. "So, he told you. Why is that making you act weird?"

"Because..." Iris leaned back into her chair and crossed her arms over her stomach protectively. "I'm acting weird because he told me while we were at the Lighthouse for drinks, and we ended up getting kind of drunk and...and one thing led to another and...we kind of...hooked up."

A sudden and weird buzzing filled Felicity's ears after Iris made her announcement. Through the static, her brain repeated several different words at her: weird...drunk...hooked up. They kept cycling through her brain over and over until they lost all meaning.

"You...you hooked up with Barry?" Felicity repeated.

"Yeah."

She sat there for a few more minutes, waiting for her brain to really soak up the meaning of Iris' words. Her two best friends hooked up. The got drunk and had sex. Iris and Barry. Barry and Iris.

Holy. Shit.

"So...so what does this mean?" Felicity asked. "Are you together? Was it a one time thing? Are you guys friends with benefits?"

"I don't know," Iris confessed. "I really don't. But we've been to dinner every night since then, and there's definitely been...sparks."

Felicity blinked. Sparks. Wow.

"Tell me what you're thinking," Iris begged. "Are you mad at me? Are you angry?"

"Why? Why would I be angry?" Felicity asked. Then her eyes narrowed. "Unless you...you didn't take advantage of his heartbroken-ness, did you? Because if you did, I swear to God, Iris — "

"No, of course not!" she interjected. "I would never do that!"

Felicity felt a tiny bit of relief at that. "OK. So you didn't take advantage of him. Then why are you asking me if I'm angry?"

"Because now _you're_ the one who's acting weird. Also he told you he loved you and then the same day he slept with me. I mean, if it were me I'd be a little angry. Or at the very least upset."

"I'm not," Felicity insisted. "I'm not, I promise. I'm just...trying to wrap my brain around it."

"I know the feeling," Iris grinned nervously. "I've been trying to wrap my brain around it since it happened."

"I'm sure."

Felicity turned her head to the window and stared out, not really seeing anything as she processed what she was thinking and feeling.

Sure, Barry had told her he loved her then slept with Iris later that day. And yeah, it was weird to wrap her brain around the fact that her two best friends were apparently hooking.

But Felicity didn't love Barry the way he loved her. And he deserved to try and find someone who would. What if that person was Iris? Who was she to judge?

"OK, so you're not taking advantage of any heartbrokenness he might have. And you're not letting yourself be a rebound, are you?" Felicity asked.

"I'm not," Iris answered. "I think...I think we might genuinely have feelings for one another."

"Do you two promise you'll talk about it?" Felicity demanded. "Promise me you will sit that boy down and talk about this and where this is headed before he has to go back to Central City. Don't leave it until it's too late like Laurel and Tommy did. I can't stand to have another good friend have to go through heartbreak. I've had enough of heartbreak this week."

"I promise," Iris nodded. "I'm too nosy to let something like that go anyway. You know me, I'm a reporter."

Felicity chuckled. "OK. Well, then if you're happy and Barry's happy, then nothing else really matters, right?"

"Right."

She leaned in. "So are you happy?"

A tiny grin started to spread across Iris' face. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

That made Felicity smile as well. "Then so am I."


	5. Chapter 5

"So how is it so far?" Felicity asked. She held the phone an arms length away from her face. Her sister's lovely face smiled back at her on her screen.

"It's good," Laurel said as she glanced around her. "I just got in, but the flight was fine, and the hotel room is _gorgeous_."

"And what's on the agenda for the day?"

"I thought I might do some sightseeing," Laurel said. "I've got this list on my phone of the must-see spots in Star City, like the museums and art galleries. Then I think I'm going to go on the walking tour of the QC campus."

Felicity's face twisted in disgust. All mentions of QC reminded her of a man she didn't like wasting precious energy thinking about. "What if you run into Oliver?"

Laurel shrugged. "I don't think I will. I overheard a local report saying he's out of town, scoping out business ventures."

Felicity felt relief for her sister, even though Laurel really had no reason to dislike him. Not like she did, anyway.

"And when are you planning on meeting up with Tommy?"

Laurel's shoulders fell. "I don't know," she admitted. "I've been trying to come up with a way to go about it subtly. A way that doesn't make me look like some crazy stalker, you know?"

"Laurel, anything that's _not_ texting him and telling him you're in town will make you look like a crazy stalker. Because if your plan is to 'accidentally' run into him somewhere, that's going to require a little bit of stalking."

"I know. Which is why I'm still thinking on it."

"OK. Well let me know if you need help devising a plan."

"Will do. Hey, how are things going back home?"

Felicity shrugged. "Nothing much to report. Barry went back to Central City yesterday. Iris and I had sort of a goodbye celebration before he left."

Laurel shook her head. "I _still_ can't believe what you told me about Iris and Barry. I mean, Iris and Barry! Who the hell would have thought?"

She didn't even know the half of if. Felicity had yet to tell her sister about Barry telling her he loved her the same day Tommy and Oliver skipped town. She wasn't quite sure why she didn't want to bring it up — it was a combination of avoiding all topics that involved the phrase "I love you" and not wanting to take attention away from her sister's shitty situation.

"I know," Felicity chuckled. "I feel like I'm waiting for one of them to pop out of the corner any minute and be like, 'PSYCHE! Just kidding!'"

"But when you think about it, they're kind of cute for one another, you know? If they decide to make it official or anything."

"I think they might. Iris mentioned something about going to Central City to visit him."

"Wow." Laurel's eyes widened at that news. "That's huge."

"I know."

The two sisters chatted for a little while longer before saying their goodbyes. Once they hung up, Felicity let out a sigh and pulled herself out of her bed. She had just finished an eight-hour shift at the bookstore and now she had to leave the house to go to the Daily Record offices.

She quickly gathered up all her equipment and stuffed it into her bag before heading out of the house. Once she got to the newspaper offices, she swiped her security card through the scanner and walked through the employee entrance.

At six in the evening, the printing press was already whirring, and the technicians were tending to the different moving parts. Felicity paused for a moment the watch in awe as the gigantic machinery rolled off page after page. While she had always been an advocate for digital news and digital media, there was still something to be said about the shock and awe of watching the old-fashioned print media at work.

Eventually the reek of turpentine permeating the press room forced her to walk away, toward the newsroom. While everyone else in the building kept normal business hours and had long since gone, home, everyone in the newsroom was still sitting at their computers.

"Hey, guys," Felicity announced once she walked into the room.

They all returned her greeting. Iris, sitting in the far corner, jumped up from her seat and bounded to Felicity, who was walking through the bullpen toward the news library where all the back issues and microfiche were kept.

"Are you digitizing tonight?" Iris asked.

"That is why I'm here," Felicity answered wryly.

She opened the door and flipped the light on. The fluorescents overhead flickered to reveal the dank and slightly depressing library. It was lined with bookshelves of bound back issues that went all the way back to the 1800s. Then there were the miles and miles of filing cabinets that held all the rolls of microfiche, starting at 1900. And in the far corner of the room sat the ancient desktop and microfiche reader.

Felicity didn't like spending a lot of time in the news library by herself. It was dark and windowless (because sunlight damaged the newsprint in the old issues, from what she understood), and looking at the desktop just made her feel depressed. But she was hoping to make a big dent in the 1920s.

Iris had followed her into the library and sighed as she looked around. "I'm sorry you have to work in such a gross place, but we couldn't move the microfiche reader. It's way too big for us."

"Don't worry about it," Felicity said with a wave of her hand. She set her bag down and started pulling out her laptop and charger.

"Anyway, I have an idea that I would like you to listen to in its entirety before you say no."

Felicity straightened up to stare with raised eyebrows at her friend. "Already I don't like the sound of this."

"Just hear me out, OK?" Iris took a breath. "I have two weeks of vacation coming up, and I'm going up to Central City to see Barry."

Felicity's expression cleared up, and she smiled. "Oh! Good for you. But why were you being weird about telling me? I already told you that I'm fine with you and Barry."

"Because there's more." Another deep breath. "I think you should come with me."

Felicity's smile immediately fell off her face and she shook her head. "No."

"Why not?" Iris demanded.

"Because I can't afford to take two weeks off of work. Walter needs me at the bookstore, and these records aren't going to digitize themselves. Besides, what happens if there's a huge IT problem with one of the city's servers? I'm the only one who knows how the system works. The whole city could be thrown into chaos."

Iris rolled her eyes. "OK, first of all, the tourist season is over, which means business at the bookstore is slowing down. Walter can definitely spare you for two weeks. Second of all, there has never been a problem with the city's servers ever since you took over and I very much doubt there will be one while you're gone. Third of all, these records aren't going anywhere. They'll still be here when you get back."

Felicity shook her head. "All right, all of that is true, but that's not really what I mean by I can't afford it. I already spent a fortune on Laurel's vacation, and it put a big dent in my savings. I have to make up the difference within the next week if I'm going to get back on track. So I can't just go to Central City with you for two weeks. I genuinely don't have the money."

"What if I told you we'd have most of it covered? Barry's got a guest room in his apartment, so you don't have to worry about a hotel. It's close enough to drive, so we don't have to spend anything on airfare, and I've already saved up all the money we'll need for gas. All you'll have to worry about is food and drink. And even then, I bet you could hoodwink some gullible guy into buying you loads of drinks when we go out."

Felicity sighed. "Iris…"

"Come on, Lissy! When was the last time you took a vacation?"

"That — that's not the point."

"That's totally the point! Just the other day you were forcing Laurel to take a few weeks off for herself. Well if you ask me, she's not the only one who could benefit from that advice."

Felicity huffed, unable to truly say anything. Iris was making far too much sense.

"I know that you're determined to work yourself into the ground, but as your best friend, it's my responsibility to make sure you're taking care of your mental and spiritual health. You, my dear, haven't gone on a vacation in five years. It's time you take a freaking break. You've more than earned it."

She sucked in a reluctant breath. "You're not going to let this go are you?"

Iris shook her head. "Nope."

Felicity let go of the breath and let her shoulders slump as she did. "Fine. I'll go with you."

Iris broke out into a wide smile and threw her arms around Felicity. "Yay! This is going to be so much fun, I promise!"

* * *

Most everyone had a different reaction when Felicity told them she was taking a vacation, but there was one common emotion they all shared: genuine joy.

When Donna Smoak found out, she squealed with delight loud enough to send Quentin running into the room, brandishing his service pistol about in front of him. When he found out his wife was simply being exuberant (as usual), he made an annoyed grunt before clicking the safety back on.

"Jesus, what the hell are you doing, running around and screaming like that?" he demanded.

"Lissy's going on a vacation to Central City for two weeks with Iris!" Donna responded, clapping in excitement.

The news made Quentin's eyebrows shoot up his forehead as he directed his incredulous gaze at his stepdaughter. "No kidding? _You_? You're actually going to go on a vacation?"

"Be sure to take loads of pictures!" Donna insisted. "I want to see _everything_ when you get back, OK? And be sure to give Barry a big ol' hug just from me!"

Laurel, of course, was more subdued in her reaction. But once she got over her initial shock, she kept texting Felicity links of things she found online to check out when she was in the city. So much so, that Felicity worried that her sister wasn't actually enjoying the vacation she was supposed to be on.

Then, of course, there was the matter of telling Walter and begging for the days off which he was only too happy to give.

"Felicity, of _course_ you can have two weeks off," he said with his typical magnanimity. "I was beginning to fear you'd never take a break from this town."

"So you don't mind?" she asked with a hint of trepidation. "I didn't give you a lot of notice…"

"Nonsense," he waved away her concerns like they were a thin smoke. "It's well past tourist season, and I'm perfectly capable of handling things while you're gone. Don't worry about a thing."

So with seemingly unanimous blessing, Felicity climbed into a car with Iris in the early morning on the way to Central City, and four hours later, they were pulling up to Barry's apartment. The man himself was waiting for them with open arms and a grin wider than the plains of Iowa when they parked in the open spot.

"Iris! Lissy!" he shouted once they got out of the car. He gave Felicity a big hug, then pecked Iris on the lips. "You're finally here!"

Iris blushed at the kiss, and Felicity ducked her head into the trunk while she grabbed their bags in order to hide the smile.

Barry led them up the stairs to his apartment. It was a quaint space on the second story of his building, with a living room window that overlooked the vast Central City skyline. The room at the end of the hallway was the master bedroom and the one right next to it was the guest room, outfitted with a queen bed big enough for both women, but Felicity had a feeling that after the first night she'd get the bed all to herself.

Once their bags were in the guest bedroom, Iris made a beeline for the toilet while Felicity wandered out into the living room to admire the view. Barry walked up behind her, his hands in his pocket and a tentative smile on his face.

"Nice, isn't it?" he asked.

"Oh, it's gorgeous," Felicity gushed. "This apartment's amazing, Barry."

"Yeah, I like it a lot."

A pause hung over them, heavy with words that had yet to be said. Finally, when she couldn't take the tension anymore, Felicity blurted out, "I'm really happy for you and Iris."

Barry's face melted into sudden relief. "Really? You are?"

"Of course I am."

"You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

He shrugged. "I just thought you might be, or something...I mean, it was literally the day I told you that I loved you and I was just...I don't know, I thought you might be angry. With the both of us or something."

"Barry, all I've ever wanted was for the two of you to be happy. Outside of my family, the two of you are the _most_ important people in the world to me."

His smile stretched across his face. It was the first genuine look of happiness he showed her since all those weeks ago, when he confessed his unrequited love. "I feel the same way, Lissy. And I'm just glad that it's not awkward between us anymore."

She grinned back at him. "Me too."

Barry stepped forward and slung a casual arm over her shoulders and together they stared out the window. "Admit it, though," he said. "You're kind of bummed you turned me down because then you might get to live here and live with this view."

Felicity rolled her eyes, but laughed all the same.

Once she and Iris had settled in, Barry suggested the three of them go out to lunch at a quaint French-inspired cafe in downtown Central City. While he drove, he pointed out the touristy sites, like parks filled with laughing families, fountains that spouted waterfalls glittering with sunlight or the towering structures that cast shadows in every direction.

They reached the cafe and the minute they walked inside, Felicity fell in love. The exterior looked like any old restaurant, but the interior looked like a quaint parlor decorated like a small bakery somewhere in France. There was exposed brick, colorful paintings, and light streaming in from lace covered windows.

And what was more, the place smelled like heaven.

The three of them joined the line forming in front of the register, and the people in front passed them a couple of menus that listed a variety of delicious soups, salads and sandwiches on one side and practically every pastry known to man, from croissants to eclairs to macarons on the other.

"I want to live here," Felicity declared when she looked up from the menu.

"You're not the only one, believe me," Barry grinned.

Barry and Iris got their food first, so they went to find a free table. As Felicity waited, she felt a buzz coming from her purse. Pulling out her phone, she saw she received a text from Laurel.

 _You will never guess what the tabloids here are saying about Oliver Queen_ , it read.

Felicity rolled her eyes. _Has he dropped dead from being an asshole? Because that's literally the only headline I'd care about._

 _Nope. He's in Central City for the next two weeks._

She snorted. So what if he was in the same city as she was? This wasn't Hertfordshire. This was a big city. There was no way in the world she would run into him here.

"Felicity Smoak?"

She turned at the sound of her name, expecting for her food to be ready at the counter.

But instead of seeing a warm chocolate croissant and a cafe au lait, she saw a pair of piercing blue eyes and a chiseled jaw that felt all too familiar.

Fracking irony.

"What are you doing here in Central City?" Oliver asked with a slightly tilted head.

His question jumpstarted her dumbstruck brain. "I'm, um...I'm here on vacation. To visit a friend."

"Really?" His quirked eyebrow made it look like he didn't quite believe her, and she felt a stab of irritation.

"Yeah, really," she huffed. "Why? What are you doing here?"

"I'm scoping out potential business acquisitions for Queen Consolidated with my mother," he responded.

At the mention of the word "mother," a woman standing behind him turned her head, as if her name was called. She was a beautiful woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, a dignified nose and eyes identical in shape and color to the man she stood next to.

"Oliver?" The woman glanced between him and Felicity. "Who is this?"

"Mother, this is Felicity Smoak. Felicity, this is my mother, Moira Queen."

Moira turned her gaze to Felicity. The younger woman didn't sense much hostility — merely curiosity, like her son had happened on animal that she had never seen before.

"It's very nice to meet you," Moira said, holding her hand out to her.

"It's nice to meet you too," Felicity responded as she shook the other woman's hand. All the while she screamed in her head at the people behind the counter to hurry up and finish her order so she could get away from them.

"Forgive me for asking, but how do you know my son?"

"Oh, I live in Hertfordshire. I met him while he was staying there for the summer with his friend Tommy Merlyn."

For some reason, the mention of Hertfordshire made Moira stiffen, and Felicity saw her eyes narrow just the slightest bit. "And what brings you to Central City?"

Felicity detected just the slightest hint of coolness in her tone, and it made her wonder what the famous Queen matriarch was thinking. "My best friend and I are visiting her boyfriend who lives here. He's a CSI with the police department."

"Ahh." There was still a calculating look in Moira Queen's icy irises, but it was a little more subdued. "Is this your first time in Central?"

"I've visited a few times in the past, but only on school trips. We didn't get to see a lot of the city."

"That's a shame. Well I hope your trip affords you more time to explore. This is a wonderful city, after all. Oliver and I are here often on business, and we could give you a list of places you must see, if you like."

Felicity wanted nothing more, _in the world_ , than to grab her food and run to the safety of her friends. But they must have been hand grinding every bean to brew her coffee because it was taking so freaking long to make. So she grit her teeth and smiled. "That's very sweet, but you don't have to do that."

"Nonsense," Moira replied. "Any friend of Oliver's is a friend of mine. In fact, you must come to dinner with us tonight. We have reservations at a lovely restaurant downtown called Rosings. Come meet us there at seven, and feel free to bring your friends."

Next to reliving the fifth grade spelling bee in which she mispelled the word "urethra" in front of the whole freaking school, having dinner with Oliver Queen and his mother in a strange city at a fancy restaurant was the absolute _last_ thing Felicity wanted to do. But what could she do? She was pinned into a corner, and there was no way she was going to get out of this.

Besides, Moira Queen looked like the kind of woman who wouldn't hesitate to shank her if she said no.

"We would love to," Felicity said in a strained voice. "Thank you very much for the offer."

"Wonderful. We'll see you then."

Finally the counter called her name. With wooden limbs, she took her croissant and coffee, smiled one last time at the Queens, and made her way to the table with all her friends.

God, how the hell was she going to explain this one?

* * *

"Are you _sure_ this dress is OK?" Iris asked nervously.

Felicity rolled her eyes. "For the millionth time, _yes_. You look great."

The two women hadn't packed many "fancy" clothes in their suitcases, figuring there weren't going to be a lot of occasions to wear a cocktail dress while they were on vacation in Central City. In fact, Felicity probably wouldn't have packed the red and gold dress Iris was wearing at the moment if it hadn't been for Donna Smoak's insistence that they be prepared for any and all contingencies.

Felicity had already made a note on her phone to thank her mother once she got home.

"I just can't believe we got invited to eat at a fancy restaurant with _Oliver and Moira freaking Queen_ ," Iris giggled. "Like what are the chances that he'd be here in the same city as we are?"

"You're acting like this is the greatest thing ever when really this is because I have the shittiest luck in the world," Felicity grumbled.

Now it was Iris' turn to roll her eyes. "Seriously, what do you have against going to a four-star restaurant in a big city?"

"The fact that I'm going to have to be in close proximity with Oliver Queen is the main issue," Felicity answered dryly.

While Iris was sure to attract the stares of everyone in the restaurant in her striking outfit, Felicity had opted for something a little more subdued. Her dress was bright blue in color, but the wide straps showed off the grace of her shoulders and the length of her slender neck. The skirt stopped at her knees and swished nicely — which, for Felicity, was half the fun of wearing a dress anyway.

The three of them left a half hour later, taking a ride sharing service to the restaurant. Sure enough, once they gave their names to the maitre d, they were seated immediately in a secluded corner table where Moira and Oliver Queen were already waiting for them. Oliver sat at the end of the booth and Moira sat in the middle and on her other side was an African American man with the biggest biceps Felicity had ever seen in her entire life.

"Felicity," Moira greeted with a polite smile. "It's so lovely to see you again. Please take a seat."

She did as obeyed, while Barry and Iris took seats on either side of her.

"I don't know if you've met our friend and business partner. This is John Diggle. John, this is Felicity Smoak and her friends."

"Nice to meet you," he said with a warm grin.

"You too," she replied. "And these are my friends, Barry Allen and Iris West."

"Pleasure," Moira nodded.

"Thank you so much for inviting us to dinner, Mrs. Queen," Barry said in a weirdly high-pitched voice. "This was very generous of you."

"Not at all. Like I told Felicity earlier at the cafe, any friend of Oliver's is a friend of mine."

For the next few minutes, everyone was preoccupied with their menus as they perused, trying to decide what they wanted. Then the waiter came by to take drink and food orders, and immediately disappeared afterward.

"So, Felicity," Moira began. "What do you do in Hertfordshire?"

"I work at the local bookstore," she answered.

If Moira was stiff before, it was nothing compared to her posture after Felicity told her where she worked. It was almost as if someone had taken a titanium rod and shoved it up her spine so that she was forced to sit completely straight.

"The bookstore," she repeated.

"Yes."

Felicity could feel the judgment radiating off the older woman in waves, and she felt herself getting defensive. Sure, working at a bookstore in a small town sounded really lame, but it wasn't like she was going to work there forever.

"She also works part-time doing other things," Oliver added. "She runs the municipal information technology systems. And as I understand it, she does a lot with computers."

Felicity had never been more surprised in her life. It was almost like...like he was trying to rescue her from his mother's judgment.

"So you're in IT?" John asked.

"Sort of," Felicity admitted. "The city contracted me to set up and maintain their servers, and whenever the system goes down, they call me to come fix it."

"That sounds like a lot of responsibility," John remarked.

"It can be. But I put a lot of work into the city's IT infrastructure, so it's pretty stable."

"And that's not all she does," Iris said, a hint of pride in her voice. "When she's not running around fixing other people's computer problems, she's working part-time at the Daily Register digitizing old records."

"Yeah, Felicity's a regular tech whiz kid," Barry grinned. Felicity felt herself blush under her friends' praise.

It seemed that Moira's original assessment changed ever so slightly, because her frown softened and her eyebrows inched up her forehead. "Well, Felicity, if you don't mind my asking: if you're so talented with computers, why are you working at a bookstore? And why are you living in Hertfordshire? That town is hardly known as a bastion for technology."

Felicity's fists clenched in her lap. Quite honestly, she _did_ mind her asking. She hardly knew this woman, yet here she was, sitting in a suit that probably cost more than she made in a year at all three of her jobs combined, staring down her rich nose at her like she was some sort of fascinating insect. And what was worse, she felt like she had to _explain_ her jobs and her life, when really she hadn't done anything wrong to begin with!

"The bookstore was my first job, in high school," Felicity answered in as calm a voice as she could manage. "The owner is like a second father for me. And I'd like to eventually leave Hertfordshire, but at the moment I don't have the money or the job."

"Where did you go to college?" Moira pressed on. "Surely your alumni network could help you find a position somewhere. Here in Central City, perhaps. Or Gotham."

On either side of her, Barry and Iris shifted in their seats.

"I didn't finish college," Felicity said in a very measured tone. "I went to MIT for two years, but I had to drop out due to family reasons."

Her confession was met with different reactions from her dinner companions. John simply nodded, not wanting to pry any further. Moira kept watching Felicity, like she was some sort of fascinating insect. But Oliver — he looked up from his plate in surprise. Like he didn't think she was even capable of getting into MIT or something.

After a prolonged moment of silence, Moira said, "Well you should consider possibly going back. A degree from MIT can open a lot of doors."

Felicity was so close to throwing her napkin on the table and storming out of the restaurant, but she kept her cool. Instead she plastered a wobbly smile to her face and said, "I'll certainly look into it."

She was saved from having to say anything else on the subject because John Diggle jumped in and steered the conversation elsewhere by asking Barry about what he did. That then sparked a whole new discussion on some of the weirder things he'd seen as a CSI, and the tension started to lift very slightly.

But no amount of weird crime stories Barry told could help Felicity shake the feeling that Oliver Queen was staring at her whenever he could.

* * *

Dinner came to an end at nine, but Moira insisted that the night was still young for the rest of them.

"I'm too old to stay out too late, but you all should go check out the nightlife," she insisted. "Oliver knows of some good places to get a drink. Go on, honey. Go have fun with your friends."

Felicity wondered if Moira really understood the definition of "friends" because that dinner should have proved that she and Oliver were almost the opposite of friends. But regardless, the five of them went off to a nearby bar with a laidback vibe, a great jukebox and three pool tables.

Once they walked through the door, Oliver walked up to the bar to order their drinks, Barry and Iris made a beeline for the pool table, and Felicity followed John to a table in the back of the bar.

"Well that was intense," John commented with a grin.

That made Felicity smile in return. "Is Moira always that...inquisitive?"

"Yep," he nodded. "She asks a million questions about everything. She says being curious helps uncover secret truths, both in business and in her personal life. If you ask me, it's just an excuse for her to be nosy, but you can't really argue with her business results when she's one of the richest women in the country."

"Fair enough," she sighed. "It's just, I came here for a vacation not a cross-examination. And never, in a million years, did I expect to run into Oliver Queen and his family."

"How _did_ you meet Oliver, anyway? From what he told me, he rarely left the beach house he and Tommy rented when they went on vacation in Hertfordshire."

"Oh, no, he most definitely left the beach house," Felicity shook her head. "If he hadn't, it would have denied me the pleasure of running into him practically every day at the bookstore."

John raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me he went on vacation to a beach town and ended up spending most of it indoors at a bookstore?"

"I know!" Felicity giggled. "Who does that?

That made the other man chuckle. "So you met him at the bookstore then?"

"Not exactly," she sighed. "I met him at the annual start-of-the-summer beach bash, where he skulked by himself and refused to talk to anyone there. Then a few days later, I went out to dinner with him and Tommy and Laurel, and he told me that technology was ruining society even though he runs a multi-billion dollar tech company. Oh, and he basically said that the whole town was filled with rubes."

John nodded sagely, like he'd expected as much. "Yep, that sounds like Oliver."

"What sounds like me?"

The man himself had returned with a waitress in tow, carrying a tray of drinks. Once she set them down, she shot Oliver a flirty smile before sauntering off, making sure to swing her hips in her skimpy shorts. Unfortunately for her, he didn't pay a bit of attention.

"Felicity here was just telling me how you brought your antisocial ways with you on vacation to Hertfordshire," John told him.

Oliver slid into the booth next to his friend and shot an irritated scowl at Felicity. "I was hardly antisocial."

She scoffed. "I beg to differ. The day I met you, you barely said two words to anyone."

"That was my first day in town," he argued. "I didn't know anyone."

"It's a party. Do you mean to tell me you can't be introduced to people at a party? Besides, we tried to include you in our conversations, but you just stared off into the distance like you were too good for any of us. And when we asked you to play a few rounds of volleyball, you just refused."

John laughed, which only caused Oliver to turn his scowl to him. "Sorry, man, but that sounds like exactly the kind of thing you'd do."

Oliver took in a deep breath. "Look, I know I have a tendency to be...closed off," he began. "But I'm not...I'm not really good at making friends very easily."

John snorted. "No kidding."

Felicity leaned forward and stared at the cluster of drinks. "Which one is mine?"

Oliver plucked the wine glass out of the bunch and handed it to her. "I got you a cabernet."

Felicity's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "How do you know I like red wine?" she demanded.

Oliver shrugged. "That night we went to The Place for dinner when we were out with Tommy and Laurel, I noticed that you ordered a merlot. Then tonight you went for a malbec. So I thought you'd probably like this one."

For once in Felicity's life, she was shocked into total silence.

"Well," John muttered as he smirked into his whiskey, "I guess you're not as bad at making friends as you think you are."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: OK, so I think we can all agree that after Wednesday's episode we all need an Olicity pick-me-up, don't we?**

 **Unfortunately, this chapter is probably only going to make that angst worse.**

 **I'M SORRY!**

* * *

"You're _kidding_."

Felicity groaned and buried her head into her pillow, one arm still outstretched and holding her phone where Laurel was watching on her end.

"I'm not kidding," Felicity answered, her response muffled by her pillow. "It was the most awkward evening of my _life_."

Laurel's laughter filled the room.

"I wish I had been there. His mom sounds like a real piece of work."

"That's one way to put it," Felicity grumbled.

"OK, but other than running into Oliver Queen, how has Central City been so far? How are you liking it?"

"It's fun," Felicity answered, pulling her head out of the hole it had made in her pillow. "Barry showed us around to see all the different sights this weekend. Today he's at work, though, so Iris and I are going to do some independent exploring. Iris wants to tour Picture News and I think I'm going to STAR Labs."

Laurel rolled her eyes. "You would."

"And!" Felicity interjected, hoping to prove to her sister that she was, in fact, not a loser, "I'm going to grab coffee with John Diggle."

"The guy who the Queens brought to dinner?"

"Yeah. He was actually super cool and really funny."

"Oooh," Laurel squealed. "I think _someone's_ got a crush!"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Jesus, why do you and Iris have to jump to that every time? I don't have a crush on Digg. Besides, he's married. He has a wife and kid in Star City."

"Oh," Laurel frowned. "Well then never mind."

"So speaking of crushes and love and stuff, have you talked to Tommy yet?"

Laurel suddenly went silent and she glanced away from her phone. That made Felicity sit up straight and lean in, like maybe if she got closer she could actually peer up into her sister's eyes and determine what was wrong.

"I don't think I'm going to run into him while I'm here," Laurel finally said.

"Why not?" Felicity asked.

Laurel took a deep breath. "The other day I saw a tabloid at a newsstand and...and it had a picture of him with his arm around another woman, crossing the street."

Felicity felt her lungs stop.

"The tabloids identified her as Thea Queen. Oliver's sister." Laurel looked down and Felicity could see hints of tears pooling in her sister's beautiful eyes. "According to them, they've been dating for weeks."

Felicity cast around for excuses in her brain. "That's BS," she insisted. "They're just tabloids! No one pays attention to that nonsense, everyone knows it's just trash!"

"Felicity — "

"No, I'm serious! You don't know for sure that they're actually dating. Remember that night we went to The Place? He talked about Thea Queen like she was his little sister! You don't date your little sister. You just don't. He's not into her."

"That doesn't mean anything. You don't know that for sure."

"And _you_ don't know that for sure. Look, Laurel, what you need to do is text him. Tell him you're in the city on vacation and you want to meet up with him for coffee or something. And then find out once and for all."

"Felicity," Laurel sighed. "I appreciate all that you've done for me. I appreciate you setting this up just so I could get some closure, but...but I think this is all the closure I get."

Felicity wanted to jump through her phone and smack her sister upside her head for being so stupid. This wasn't closure. This was about as far from closure as you could get. She still hadn't resolved the whole "I love you" incident and now she didn't know for sure if Tommy was dating someone else.

But her sister was stubborn, and she knew to acknowledge when she needed pushing and when she needed space.

"Look, just...just think about it a little before you leave town without seeing him, would you?" Felicity asked. "Don't make any rash decisions. Sleep on it. Take the time to really consider it."

"OK," Laurel said. "I will."

The sisters said goodbye and Felicity hung up. Then she got up from the bed and ventured out into the living room/dining room area where Iris was already sitting at the dining table, sipping on a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.

"Barry at work already?" Felicity asked.

"Yep," Iris said. "How's Laurel?"

Felicity sat next to her friend with a sigh. Then she recounted the conversation she just had as Iris listened sympathetically.

"Poor Laurel," she clucked when Felicity had finished. "You know what? I think she's gun shy right now. She can't take anymore heartbreak."

"But she needs closure!"

"You can't dictate what she needs," Iris said gently. "Think about it from her perspective. She falls in love with this great guy, and the night before he skips town, he tells her he loves her. That's got to be confusing — not to mention painful — as hell, right? Then she goes to Star City with the express purpose of seeing him only to find out that he's probably dating someone else. She's already gotten her heart broken ten ways to Sunday, and talking to him is only going to make it worse. She just wants to come away from this situation with whatever dignity she can."

Felicity huffed. Iris was making a lot of sense, but that didn't mean she liked the situation.

"Give her some time and space. Let her find her own way to heal," Iris said.

Felicity rolled her eyes. "When the hell did you get so wise?"

Iris shrugged. "I've always been wise. You just weren't paying attention."

* * *

For the first time in her life, Felicity Smoak had fallen in love.

No, not with a man. No, not with a woman.

Felicity Smoak wasn't going to do something as _pedestrian_ as fall in love with a person. No, no, no. Felicity Smoak fell in love with Central City.

To be entirely fair, she was always the kind of person who would fit into the big city life. It was almost like breathing — the minute she stepped off the bus into the heart of downtown Central City, she felt like she was at home.

There was just so much more to do in a place like Central City. There was more than one decent coffee shop. There was more than one bookstore (although if she was going to be completely honest, no bookstore would ever live up to Walter's quaint shop in Hertfordshire). There were hundreds of people walking up and down the sidewalks, hardly paying attention to what was in front of them because they were all so engrossed in their phones.

How sad she felt for them in that moment. They took all of this for _granted_. The towering skyscrapers, the beautiful parks and the horizon filled with sunshine so overpowering that it made her feel like she was in her very own Broadway musical.

If it weren't for the fact that she didn't have a job or the money, she would have moved to Central City in a _heartbeat_.

But one day, she thought to herself determinedly. One day she would move to a city. One day she'd get out of Hertfordshire and find a job that allowed her to be brilliant.

Felicity spent the morning exploring downtown by herself. She walked in and out of gift shops and boutiques. She poked her head into restaurants with ethnic cuisines she'd never tried before just to inhale the scents. She wandered through parks and sat down to read the city's newspaper.

Eventually she made it to STAR Labs, which was right on the edge of downtown. Walking through the front doors of the gigantic facility felt a little like taking a step into the future — the automatic double doors parted for her to reveal a completely white and glass interior. There was a lobby with sleek, modern-looking furniture and huge television screens that showed presentations of the innovations they were working on. And at the far end of the lobby, there was a reception desk made of some kind of dark wood.

"Hello, welcome to STAR Labs!" the receptionist greeted her. "How may I help you?"

"Oh!" Felicity was startled by the woman's greeting. "Oh, it's fine. I was just looking around."

"Do you have an appointment with someone?" the woman asked, her head slightly tilted.

"No. I'm just...I'm a tourist and I'm kind of obsessed with technology and stuff and I wanted to poke my head in here." Felicity smiled sheepishly. "You can kick me out if you want, but I just wanted to see what it was like."

The woman beamed. "Not at all! We love curious people. Here, let me call in someone who works here to give you a tour."

Felicity's eyes widened. "No, that won't be necessary!"

But it was already too late. The woman picked up her phone and dialed a number before Felicity could get the words out.

"Hi, Dr. Wells? Yes, there's a woman here in the lobby who would like a tour. Do you have the time?" Pause. "Wonderful."

The receptionist hung up and turned to Felicity with a smile. "Dr. Wells said he'll be here in a minute. Would you like to take a seat while you wait?"

But Felicity barely heard a word the woman said. "Dr. Wells? Dr. _Harrison_ Wells?"

"Yes," the receptionist beamed.

Felicity barely had time to get over her shock at the thought of _Harrison freaking Wells_ giving her a tour of STAR Labs when the man himself emerged from an elevator next to the reception desk. Dressed unassumingly in all black, the man stepped forward with a benign smile on his face.

"Hello," he said as he walked up to Felicity. "My name is Harrison Wells."

It was like someone had switched off the social functions part of her brain, because she just stood there, gaping like some kind of idiot at a man who was something like a hero to her.

It wasn't until he quirked a curious eyebrow upward that she found her voice again.

"Felicity Smoak," she blurted. "Me. That's my name. Smoak. Felicity Smoak. Wow, that sounded really James Bond-esque right there. But I'm not James Bond, not by a long shot. Mostly because I'm not a spy. Or British. Or a man."

Dr. Wells' expression turned into one of amusement, and Felicity had to take a deep breath and count down from three in her head. "It's a real pleasure to meet you, Dr. Wells," she began again in a measured, even tone that tried very hard to hide her excitement. "I'm a big fan of you and the things you're doing here in Central City."

"In that case, would you like to see some of the things we're doing here?"

She nodded eagerly and Dr. Wells smiled.

"Very well. Follow me."

For the next hour, Felicity was on cloud nine. Dr. Wells took her on a personal, one-on-one tour of most everything on the STAR Labs campus. She got to see the room full of theoretical physicists, standing in front of their white boards and poring over equations. She watched a roomful of engineers trying to build an indestructible glass box. She saw another roomful of doctors messing around with test tubes full of irradiated gold, which Dr. Wells said was a possibility in the cure for cancer.

But her favorite, _favorite_ stop on the tour was what Dr. Wells called his special project.

"This is where we work on Project X," he said proudly as he opened the door. "The particle accelerator."

Felicity's eyes widened. "You're building your own particle accelerator?"

"That's right," Dr. Wells nodded.

He stepped into the room and Felicity's jaw practically fell to the floor. In front of her was a gigantic room — probably twenty times the size of her house in Hertfordshire — and it was filled with people, all working toward a common goal.

"Ms. Smoak, have you read Stephen Hawking's paper on time?"

She nodded. "He theorized that it was possible for humans to travel in time if we could build a particle accelerator big enough for humans." Then her eyes widened. "Are you trying to build a particle accelerator big enough for humans?"

He simply smiled. "Stephen Hawking posited an interesting theory — if we were to send humans into a particle accelerator and send them flying fast enough, we could create a wormhole to send them backward, or forward, in time. We want to see if he's right."

"Holy shit," Felicity breathed.

Dr. Wells explained that they were still many years out in actually constructing a particle accelerator that wouldn't kill a human if they were to get into it. But at STAR Labs, he believed that it was only a matter of time before the theoretical became the practical. Felicity listened in awe as she looked around the cavernous room of incredibly intelligent people working toward this goal.

It was amazing, she thought to herself. To be a part of a team of like-minded science lovers, working to make the impossible possible.

She wanted to live in a community of equals, instead of living in a place where no one could tell the difference between a Mac and a Windows computer.

"Damn it!" a frustrated voice shouted from across the room.

Felicity followed Dr. Wells to the source of the exclamation. "Cisco?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"The computer crashed again," Cisco said in frustration as he gestured at his blank screen. "It's the third time this week, and I don't understand what is going on!"

"Maybe it got a virus from all the porn you download," a voice said from a few feet away.

"Shut up, Ronnie!" Cisco shot back.

Felicity tilted her head in curiosity at the machine. "What did you see before it crashed? Was it a blue screen or was there a little pop-up with a string of incoherent nonsense that you couldn't understand?"

Cisco's eyebrows shot up. "It was the latter," he answered.

"Oh, then it's a simple fix," Felicity said with a small wave of her hand. She stepped forward and turned the computer on again. "The problem sometimes when you're running big, complex programs like this is that the system needs a little time to catch up. Poor thing was probably just overwhelmed. Luckily, though, I wrote a program last year for this exact issue."

Her fingers flew across the keyboard faster than the human eye could possibly discern. Minutes later, the program had been installed, and she restarted the computer.

"There," she said with pride. "You shouldn't run into any more problems now."

Cisco still didn't look convinced. "Uh, I'm sorry if this sounds rude or something, but who the hell are you?"

"This is Felicity Smoak," Dr. Wells said genially. "She ranked second in the National Informative Technology Competition at 19 years old. Then you went to MIT to study cybersecurity and computer sciences."

"Oh." Cisco's expression cleared up almost immediately. "Cool." And without another word, he went back to his work.

To say she was surprised at Dr. Wells' knowledge of her accomplishments was an understatement. It felt a little like the world had dropped out from under her.

"You know who I am?" she breathed.

"Yes," he nodded. "I keep an eye out for promising talent in scientific fields. It's how I recruited Cisco here, and a number of other scientists who work at STAR Labs. You were one I was looking to recruit after graduation, but I called one day and they said you had to leave school for personal reasons."

Felicity's cheeks reddened. A whole host of different emotions overtook her, from excitement over the fact that someone as intelligent and distinguished as Dr. Wells was keeping an eye on her to embarrassment and shame over the fact that she had to quit school before earning her degree.

"Yes," she nodded, trying not to meet his eyes. "Yes, I did."

"But it seems that you're not any less talented for not having finished your degree," Dr. Wells pointed out. "If you don't mind my asking, what have you been doing since you left MIT?"

Her shame increased tenfold. How she wished she could tell him that she left school for some impressive reason — like she had been recruited as a civilian contractor for the Army or something.

Instead she was in Hertfordshire, living with her parents, working full-time at a bookstore and doing odd jobs around town for scraps of money.

"I, um...I've been doing different things," she mumbled. "I work with computers as much as I can."

He seemed to understand that she was unwilling to talk about it because he didn't push it any further. "Well, you are an incredibly talented young woman, Ms. Smoak, and any place you choose to work is lucky to have you. If, in the future, you are interested in working here, or if there's some other place of employment you'd like to explore, please don't hesitate to ask."

Felicity felt almost overwhelmed by the kindness Dr. Wells had shown her throughout the day. "I'm...I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but why are you going to all these lengths to help me?"

He smiled "Because brains like yours need to be nourished, not stifled. It's people like you, Ms. Smoak, that will usher our society into a bright and magnificent future. Investment in intelligence is something we all stand to benefit from."

His words put her at ease, and all traces of tension left her. For the first time in years, she believed she would be fine. After all, with someone like Dr. Wells watching out for her, what else could happen?

Felicity spent the rest of the afternoon at STAR Labs. Dr. Wells, in all his magnanimity, indulged her curiosity. After swearing her to secrecy, he showed her the specs for Project X and answered all her millions of questions about the technology he employed on campus.

Right when the tour was concluding, Dr. Wells brought her back up to the lobby to say goodbye. They exchanged a warm handshake, and Felicity promised that she would email him with more details on the program she installed on Cisco's computer. When they were finished talking, she turned around and ran headlong into someone.

"Whoops!" she shouted as she grabbed onto the person's arms to steady herself. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that!"

"Felicity?"

She looked up at the sound of her name and realized in surprise that the person she ran into was none other than Oliver Queen.

Because of course.

"Oliver," she said as she took an immediate step backward. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you," he responded with a quirked eyebrow.

"I was taking a tour," she said defensively.

"A tour," he repeated. He said it in a flat tone, but Felicity felt like he didn't believe her. For some reason, that made her more defensive.

"Yeah, a tour. I was curious, and Dr. Wells was kind enough to show me around."

That really ratcheted up his curiosity. "Dr. Wells showed you around," he echoed.

She huffed. "Are you going to stand there and repeat everything I say or don't you have better things to do?"

That seemed to shut him up, at least for a moment. After a prolonged second, he said, "Diggle told me you were grabbing coffee with him tomorrow."

Felicity shrugged a single shoulder, wishing she could just walk away instead of getting sucked into some pointless conversation with Oliver Queen. "Yeah. Why?"

"No reason. I didn't realize you were close enough to get coffee together."

"It's how you make friends," she pointed out. "You talk about stuff you have in common when you first meet, then you make excuses to hang out afterward to talk some more. Maybe you should take notes."

Instead of continuing to stare at her blankly, like she expected, Oliver broke into a smile. It was only the second time she'd ever seen him smile before, but it was just as disarming as the first time, if not more so.

"Yes," he nodded. "Perhaps I should."

Another silence fell over them, and Felicity started shifting awkwardly on her feet. Finally, after Felicity was contemplating what it might take to scientifically melt into the floor, Oliver said, "Well, I'm meeting my mother here in a few minutes for our own tour with Dr. Wells. I really should get going."

"Right. Well, goodbye, Oliver."

Without warning, he reached forward and touched her shoulder. It was a light and gentle touch, but it was surprising with its warmth and almost...intimacy.

"I'll see you later, Felicity."

* * *

John Diggle had suggested they meet for coffee at a place called Jitters.

It was the first place in Central City that she didn't immediately fall in love with. Maybe it was because she was just so used to the charm of Mud House, but Jitters felt more like a high school cafeteria than a coffee house.

Regardless, she ordered a latte and took a seat by the window so she could people watch as she waited for John.

It turned out, she didn't have to wait very long. He showed up five minutes after Felicity sat down.

"Hi," he greeted with a smile. He set a cup of black coffee down in front of him, then shrugged his massive shoulders out of his sweater.

"Hi back," she replied.

"How have you been?"

Felicity immediately took it as an invitation to start talking about her time in Central City thus far, including all her city exploring. And it was a little weird for her to be so effusive with a relative stranger, but there was something so calming about John's presence that made her willing to talk around him.

"And how was STAR Labs?" he prodded after he took a sip of his coffee. "You mentioned that you wanted to go see the campus."

"Oh, it was _amazing_." With that, she launched into a detail-ridden reliving of the tour and everything Dr. Wells told her. She refrained from telling him the specifics about Project X because Dr. Wells had asked her not to share them, but she did recount the part about helping Cisco with his computer problems and what Dr. Wells had said about her future.

"It was incredible," she gushed. "Everything about the place was just so...so _futuristic_. And then when Dr. Wells said he'd kept an eye out for me…" She shivered a little with excitement. "I've never felt more inspired by anything in my entire life."

John smiled. "That's really great, Felicity. I'm glad you got to experience it."

"Me too," she grinned.

"And telling you that you're talented despite not finishing your degree, that's even more incredible."

"Right. I thought it might have been a detriment or something. You always see these job advertisements at places like STAR Labs that require Master's, even doctorates. But he didn't seem to think it would hold me back."

John nodded. "Felicity? Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why did you have to leave MIT?"

Felicity's grin slowly fell off her face.

She didn't begrudge John's curiosity. If it had been her, she would have asked as well. But her hesitation stemmed from so many different things, chief among them pride.

"It's not like I wanted to," she began. "I loved it. I loved my classes, I loved the school, my classmates, Cambridge...all of it was great. I was on track to graduate early, even."

"So then what happened?"

She leaned back into her seat and stared down at the table. "I was paying my tuition through a combination of scholarships, student loans and money my parents had saved up for my education. But then something came up right at the end of my sophomore year, and I had to go home. My parents couldn't help me out with my tuition anymore, and I didn't have any other way to get the money for MIT because it was so expensive. I had to drop out."

John nodded, empathy in his warm eyes. "Wow. That sucks."

"Yeah. And my student loans were supposed to be deferred until I graduated, contingent upon my full-time student status. When I dropped out, I had to start repaying them. So I went back home and started working."

"I'm so sorry," he said.

She sucked in a breath through her nostrils. "It's not your fault. It's just how it goes. And at any rate, I'm really close to paying off my loans. Once I do, I'll finally be able to move out of Hertfordshire."

"Hey, good for you," he smiled.

"Thanks."

Sensing that she wanted to change the subject, John did so gracefully, steering the conversation into talk of other things she should do in Central City before she had to go back to Hertfordshire.

"When do you have to leave, anyway?" he asked.

"We're leaving Friday," she said. "So we've still got a lot of time to see and do things."

"What a coincidence," he said. "We're leaving Saturday. Maybe we all can go out for drinks again some time before we leave. We'll skip the awkward dinner with Moira."

"Yeah, that might be fun," Felicity hedged. "Would Oliver be there?"

"Of course." John grinned in a wolfish way that Felicity did _not_ trust one bit. "Why do you ask?"

She rolled her eyes. "OK, can I ask _you_ a question this time?"

"Yeah."

"How do you _stand_ Oliver Queen?" she demanded. "I mean...he's just...he's just such a closed off, stuck up, snooty _jerk_. And you are like, the exact opposite. What in the world would make you want to hang out with someone like that?"

John laughed. "Look, I'll admit, Oliver isn't exactly the warmest guy in the world. He's definitely got his moments."

She grunted her response.

"But Oliver's a really, really good person. He's socially awkward and distant with people he doesn't know, but once you manage to get into his circle and once he considers you his friend, he'll go to the ends of the world for you. He's one of the most trustworthy men I've ever known. I know he's always got my back."

Felicity shook her head. John made Oliver sound so great, but she had yet to see any evidence of his greatness for herself.

"OK, I can see you don't believe me," John said with a shake of his head. "Let me give you an example. Did you meet his friend Tommy Merlyn?"

She immediately perked at Tommy's name and nodded.

"Well I've known Tommy for a while and he can be kind of carefree. He throws himself into things without necessarily thinking them through. This is true of him in relationships as well. He just throws himself into things and he falls in love faster than you can blink an eye."

She felt her heart pounding in her palms as John talked. In her head she willed him to keep talking.

"Anyway, it happened this summer in Hertfordshire. Tommy fell in love with someone, and from the way Oliver tells it, he fell head over heels. He was talking about asking the girl to move with him to Star City. But Oliver convinced him that it wasn't a good idea to commit himself to this girl. He convinced him to break it off and go back home. He saved Tommy from making a huge, gigantic mistake."

Felicity wasn't a very angry person. In fact, she could count on one hand the number of times she'd lost her temper.

This was most certainly one of them.

Her anger glowed in her cheeks, in her neck, all over her body. Her skin was flushed with anger as she thought of Oliver Queen, scumbag of the universe, ruining her sister's happiness. He had the absolute _nerve_ to meddle in their love lives and ruin what could have been the most amazing relationship of all time.

Her fists clenched in her lap the more and more she thought of it. She was lucky Oliver wasn't actually there, otherwise she just might throw a punch in his smug, rich face.

"Did he mention a name?" Felicity asked in a strained voice. "Did he say who Tommy had fallen in love with?"

John just shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "No. He didn't give many details other than the fact that they were completely wrong for each other."

"Why?"

"Something about how she was cold and calculating. And she apparently came from a family of hicks."

That was it. That was the last straw.

She jumped up from her seat and John looked up in surprise.

"Felicity?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"I, um…" she cleared her throat. "I have to go to the bathroom. Sorry, I'll be right back."

With that, she practically ran from the table before he could see just how hard she was shaking. Once she reached the bathroom, she threw herself into an empty stall and pressed her back against the door.

Oliver Queen. The abominable _Oliver Queen_ was the one who broke Tommy and Laurel up. He was the one who made her sister cry. He was the one who ruined her sister's life.

And he was the one who would pay.

* * *

Felicity kept John's information to herself from everybody: from Barry, from Iris, even from Laurel. Laurel had gone back home to Hertfordshire while Iris and Felicity were still in Central City, and she was trying very hard to move on. Felicity told herself she would honor her sister's wishes, so she was keeping it a secret at the moment.

But the problem with secrets, as she was learning, is that they make you resentful. Especially if they're angry secrets. As the week went on, she grew more and more resentful of the situation. She was resentful of John for entrusting her with the information in the first place. She was resentful of Tommy for being such a gullible idiot. But most of all, she was resentful of Oliver Queen for fucking everything up.

On their last day in Central City, Barry made Iris and Felicity breakfast so they wouldn't be hungry before they hit the road. It was a pleasant time for the three of them — they chatted and joked around plates full of bacon and eggs and multiple cups of coffee. Inwardly, Felicity was preparing herself to leave a city that she had fallen in love with. Going back to Hertfordshire was going to be so hard.

"So, ladies," Barry smiled. "When am I going to get the chance to entertain the two of you again?"

"Well you know I'm coming up in two weeks," Iris winked.

"I know," Barry grinned.

Felicity knew that her friend was currently reaching underneath the table to hold Barry's hand, and she couldn't help but smile into her coffee at the thought.

"But what about you, Felicity?" he asked. "When are you coming back?"

"As soon as possible," she told him in earnest. "I mean it, Barry, I loved it here. I promise I'm going to try and visit you again soon."

The young man nodded happily.

As the meal was wrapping up, Iris and Felicity were helping him clean up when a knock came at the door.

"Coming!" Barry called.

He ducked out of the kitchen to go answer it, and seconds later the girls heard a sound of surprise.

"Excuse me, Barry. Is Felicity in?"

The woman almost dropped the soapy plate in her hands. She knew that voice — it was one she'd come to loathe more than anything in the world.

"Uh, yeah. Hey, Lissy!" Barry poked his head around the partition with surprise written all over his face. "Oliver Queen is here to see you."

A weird mix of fury and dread started pumping through her veins. Slowly, quietly, she pulled her soapy hands out of the sink and wiped them off on the kitchen towel. Then she followed Barry out to the front door where, sure enough, Oliver Queen was waiting for her in a dark green cashmere sweater and jeans that probably cost more than her parents' house.

"Oliver," she greeted coldly.

"Felicity," he nodded. "Can I...would you come take a walk with me? I'd really like to talk to you about something. In private."

"Iris and I were about to leave," she told him.

"I won't take up too much of your time," he said. "Please."

Sucking in a deep breath, she reluctantly nodded and she stepped out of the safety of Barry's apartment and followed him down the stairs and onto the sidewalk that led out into the neighborhood.

"How did you know where I was staying?" she asked him.

"I asked John," he answered. "He told me you were staying with Barry. Then I remembered that Barry is technically a government worker since he's a CSI with the CCPD, so I looked up his address in the city directory."

"Jesus, stalker much?" she muttered under her breath. Luckily he didn't hear her.

The two of them walked in silence for a few minutes. Then, finally, Oliver broke it.

"Felicity," he said, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. She paused too, turning to face him. She'd scarcely seen him more agitated, biting his lip with furrowed brows. "Felicity, I've tried to forget about it. I've tried to make it go away, but it won't."

"What are you talking about?' she demanded.

"Felicity Smoak, I'm in love with you."

Well whatever she had been expecting, it certainly wasn't _that_.

"I know," he continued. He started pacing, back and forth, back and forth like he was the pendulum on a grandfather clock, counting the seconds with each footstep. "I know, it sounds crazy. I know. I know the thought of me falling in love with...well, falling in love with someone like you is absolutely insane, but it's true. I'm in love with you, despite everything. Despite where you live, your lack of education, your family and friends...I'm in love with you and I just — I would like very much for you to go out with me."

Felicity had never been more shocked in her life. There she was, standing in the middle of an empty sidewalk in a residential district of Central City with _Oliver Queen_ professing his love for her.

What. The. Fuck.

His pacing eventually slowed as he stared at her, waiting with anticipation for her answer. As she struggled with her shock, she stared into his face. His clear blue eyes, his shadowed jaw, his defined nose and strong brows — Oliver Queen was everything a run-of-the-mill, heterosexual woman would have wanted in a man. He was handsome, smart, rich — he was all of it.

But the more she looked at his beautiful face, the more she dwelled on the fact that he was the reason Laurel cried herself to sleep for days after Tommy left. _He_ was the reason her heart was broken. He did that. He ruined her sister's life.

And suddenly, she had the words.

"Wow," Felicity began, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "You sure know how to make a girl feel special, don't you, Oliver?"

He blinked in surprise.

"I mean, really, you should teach a class," she continued venomously. "A college level course in smoothness: How To Confess Your Love 101. Step one: dispense with all the stupid, silly, girly nonsense. Don't bother taking her out for dinner or a drink. Take her out during the middle of the day, right before she has to take a four-hour-long car ride back to her hometown. Corner her so she feels trapped in the middle of unfamiliar territory. That's sure to get her heart racing."

Oliver's mouth immediately snapped shut. His eyes started to take on a look of panic and shock, something, Felicity took a visceral pleasure in. She continued.

"Step two: insult her. Make her feel so awful about herself that she'll feel grateful that you even looked at her at all. Make sure she knows that she's lucky that you so much as even gave her a second glance!"

"How did I insult you?" Oliver demanded.

She let out a barking laugh. "Are you _kidding_ me? You just told me you fell in love with me against your will, even though I live in a hick town with a hick family and have nothing but a hick education!"

Oliver didn't reply.

"And the final step," Felicity snarled, "Make the rest of her family so completely miserable that she'll have no choice but to accept you on the spot."

"What — "

"Laurel and Tommy!" she screamed. And in an instant, all the fury she had pent up over the days since she found out what really happened spilled out of her, wave after wave after wave. "You broke them up! You persuaded Tommy to get the hell out of dodge the minute summer was over without even so much as an explanation!"

He stood there, completely still as she hurled her accusation right at him. He didn't look down, he didn't look away. He met her words head on with absolutely no change of expression.

"Do you deny it?"

"No."

" _No?_ " she demanded. He stared right back at her, almost a fierce kind of pride in his expression as he owned up to ruining her sister's life. "You mean to say you _purposely_ broke my sister's heart?"

"I don't believe I did," he shot back. "It was obvious to anyone with eyes that Tommy was in love with her, but it was equally clear that she didn't return his feelings."

That literally stole the words from Felicity's brain. He _honestly_ believed that Laurel didn't love Tommy back? What kind of brainless, numbskull, dipshit moron would think that? And even if that were true, who the hell was he to interfere in a love life that wasn't his own?

"You, Oliver Queen, are the most inconsiderate, selfish, prideful and _hateful_ person I have ever had the misfortune to meet," she shot at him.

His blue eyes lit up with fury. "Oh I am?" he retorted. "At least I was being honest, which is definitely more than I can say for your family!"

"Oh, so in addition to being a bunch of hicks, we're also a bunch of liars?" she spat. "Is that it?"

"Your mother certainly wasn't trying to hide the fact that dating a Queen or a Merlyn would make for an easy life," he sneered.

"You leave my mother out of this!" she shouted. "My mother is ten times the person you ever would be! At the very least she doesn't go out of her way to break people's hearts!"

"No, that seems to be a trait _you_ developed all on your own, isn't it?"

Felicity's jaw snapped shut as she glared at him. He glared right back, both his fists clenched at his sides and his chest heaving with harsh breaths, like he had just taken a lap around the block.

After a tense minute of silence, she opened her mouth and began slowly, "You've made it very clear that I am the last person in the world that you should date. So let me make it easier for you to get over your feelings: I not only dislike you, I _despise_ you, with every fiber of my being. I hope you rot in hell for what you did to my sister. And I hope you never blacken our lives with your presence ever again."

And with that, Felicity turned on her heel and ran back to Barry's apartment.


	7. Chapter 7

"Lissy? Lissy!"

Felicity started at the sound of her name and turned to Iris and Laurel who were sitting across the table from her, staring in expectant confusion.

It was the first Saturday morning the three of them spent together since they had gone on their respective vacations, so presumably they had a lot to catch up on. Except that Felicity had been paying very little attention since she sat down.

"Where is your head at, girl?" Iris prodded. "You've been staring at your coffee for five minutes straight without saying a word. You haven't even eaten your jelly doughnut."

"Yeah, and you better because you know neither of us is going to eat it," Laurel joked.

"Right," Felicity said absently as she pulled the doughnut onto her napkin. "Right."

Laurel and Iris exchanged loaded glances as they watched Felicity go back to staring at her coffee. To say that this was out of character for her was an understatement. In fact, neither of them could remember the last time they spent an extended period of time without Felicity saying something.

"Lissy, what's going on?" Laurel asked gently. "You've been so quiet since you got back from Central City."

Felicity shrugged as she stirred her coffee. "Nothing. Just tired."

It wasn't that she was lying, exactly. Felicity was indeed tired, but mostly because she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep the past few days. And the reason she hadn't been sleeping well was because she couldn't stop thinking about a certain blue-eyed billionaire who lived in Star City.

After Oliver dropped his confession on her like an atomic bomb and after she rejected him as furiously as she could, she spent a four-hour long car ride back to Hertfordshire with Iris in fuming silence. Being the good friend that she was, Iris could tell that Felicity didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't press her.

It gave Felicity time to come down from her anger. In those quiet four hours, she turned the memory over and over in her mind, wringing out every last bit of indignation until all she was left with was a sense of relief. Relief that she would never have to run into Oliver Queen again, and relief that he wouldn't have anymore chances to ruin her life or ruin her family's lives.

When she got back to Hertfordshire, she came to the conclusion that she would keep Oliver's confession to herself. She didn't want to tell Iris because she had already spent four hours reliving the awful moment in her head, and telling Iris would only force her to relive it a few more times. She didn't have the strength to do it again.

And she didn't want to tell Laurel because doing so would involve telling her that Oliver was the reason she and Tommy broke up. And Laurel was still trying to move on. Telling her sister this latest development would seriously impede her progress.

So once again, she kept it to herself.

Felicity found that she was keeping a lot of things to herself recently.

Laurel and Iris didn't press Felicity any further, so they moved on to other topics. Laurel started talking about the prosecution of Werner Lytle, AKA The Count, and Iris talked about her next planned trip to Central City now that she and Barry were official.

Once their coffee time was over, Iris and Laurel decided to go shopping, but Felicity was too tired to join them. She waved goodbye and trudged home, hoping to catch a nap to make up for all the crappy sleep she'd gotten as of late.

Once she walked through the front door, she found her mother sitting in the living room with her feet propped up on the coffee table and the remote in one hand. "Hey, sweetie," she greeted. "How was coffee?"

"Fine," she answered.

Donna leaned forward for the stack of envelopes on the coffee table next to her feet. "Oh, before I forget! You got something in the mail."

Felicity frowned a little as she stepped forward to take the envelope from her mother's outstretched hand. She turned it over and saw that there was no return address. Just her name and her address in fine, precise handwriting.

"Thanks," she murmured. Then she turned on her heel to start back for her room.

"Wait!" Donna cried. It had not escaped her notice that her daughter was acting much weirder than she had before she left for Central City, and it worried her. "Sweetie, are you all right?"

"Yeah," Felicity answered. "Why?"

"You're just...I don't know, you're just not your normal, chipper self. Is something going on?"

"No, nothing's going on. I'm just tired is all."

"All right," Donna said slowly, even though she didn't believe her. "But if there _was_ something going on, you know you can tell mama, right? I'm always here for you sweetie, no matter what."

Felicity shot her mother a small, grateful smile. "Yeah, I know."

She went back up to her bedroom with the envelope in hand. Once the door was closed, she ran her finger along the seal and pulled out two sheets of heavy stationary, filled with the same clean handwriting found on the envelope.

Curiously, she unfolded the letter and flipped to the back, hoping for some clue as to who it was from. She skipped to the closing, and her eyes widened in surprise at the name.

Oliver Queen.

There wasn't a word in the English language that could accurately describe the level of surprise and confusion she felt. What could Oliver possibly be doing, writing her a letter? After the last time they spoke, what more could he say? What more could she want to hear from him?

What was the point?

But Felicity's curiosity got the better of her, and reluctantly, she started reading.

 _Dear Felicity,_

 _I know this letter may seem out of the blue, and you might be thinking that there's nothing I can say or do that would make anything that I have done justified in your eyes. I understand if this is the case. But I also understand that there are often two sides to every story. You have heard one side, and now I beg you to learn mine. If, after you have read this letter, your opinion is unchanged, then so be it. But please allow myself the chance to explain._

 _It's no secret to you or to anyone else that Tommy and I are children of wealth. But — and forgive me if this sounds too self-aggrandizing — Tommy and I were far different than any run-of-the-mill millionaire that got invited to join the Star City Country Club. Our parents, both heads of huge, multinational corporations had a kind of wealth that set us apart from everyone else. And that wealth has given us a lot of opportunities of which we're extremely grateful._

 _But it also hasn't been without its difficulties._

 _Our entire lives, we've had to look out for people who wanted to know us for our wealth. When I was in first grade, a boy named Carter Bowen befriended me. We shared lunches, we traded video games and comic books. We were the best of friends. For his seventh birthday, he had a party at his house, and while it wasn't as big as my own, he was no means living without. For his present, my mom picked out a nice sweater. When he opened it, he made a face and said, "You're supposed to be rich, Oliver." Then he tossed it aside before moving on to his other presents._

 _After that he stopped talking to me. At school, after school, Cub Scouts — Carter wouldn't even look me in the eye. My first grade best friend had abandoned me for reasons I couldn't understand, and when I told my mother, she sat me down and explained that all my life people would try to befriend me for my money, and that I had to be exceedingly careful with how I chose my friends._

 _It was a lesson that stuck with me ever since._

 _My sister too has had trouble figuring out who her true friends are. There was a time during her junior year of high school when she fell in with a bad crowd. She started taking drugs and drinking underage, in addition to shoplifting. On her eighteenth birthday, she got so high on cocaine that she ended up crashing the Porsche our mother gave her as a present. We had to hire several lawyers to defer her sentence. She entered into rehab and I'm proud to say she's been clean ever since. She's also learned to choose her friends more carefully._

 _And, of course, Tommy. I met him in high school and we instantly became close. He had his own wealth and his own trust fund, and I never had to second guess whether he was being nice to me just for my money and social influence._

 _But Tommy was also far too trusting for his own good. See, he never learned the lesson I had to when I was young, and he got himself into many close calls. Once, in our senior year of high school, the girl he was dating at the time claimed she was pregnant with his child. Tommy, as a genuinely good person, was ready to propose and raise the child as his own. I, however, persuaded him to take a paternity test, and the results showed that Tommy was not the father. It turned out that Tommy's girlfriend had been cheating on him, and once she got pregnant, she wanted Tommy to be on the hook for a child that wasn't his so she could have access to his wealth._

 _I've always had to look out for Tommy in this way. Then we went to Hertfordshire this past summer and he fell in love with your sister. As usual, I was very wary, but Tommy had me convinced that it was only going to be a summer fling, and that it would be over by the time we went back to Star City. But instead he fell hard, harder than I'd ever seen him fall for anyone in his life._

 _And I couldn't blame him. Your sister is not without her charms, but I watched them carefully every chance I could. At the dinner we went to early on in their relationship, she engaged in lively conversation with Tommy, but still remained aloof in a way I couldn't put my finger on. At every subsequent gathering, she continued to remain emotionally distant, and I began to worry that Tommy would once again find himself in trouble that he wouldn't be able to get himself out of._

 _Then, one day, when I was sitting in the coffee house one afternoon, I overheard a conversation of older women by my table. As they talked among themselves, they had mentioned your family, and how five years ago your mother and stepfather had run into some financial troubles. The conversation devolved into speculation over whether your family had emerged from the hole and whether it might happen again. This, of course, had me even more concerned for Tommy._

 _The night before the party at Netherfield, I sat him down. He admitted that he wanted the relationship to last past the summer, but I convinced him that it wasn't wise. It wasn't in his best interest, especially when we knew so little about Laurel and her family. He eventually agreed, and we decided to leave the day after the party._

 _By now, I imagine that you are seething with fury, and rightfully so. I can't blame you in the slightest for being angry with me and the precautions I took. Having met you and having gotten to you know you at the party and in Central City have corrected the assumptions I made. I see now that I was wrong about you and your sister, perhaps more wrong than I have ever been in my life, and for that I am truly sorry. I ask for your forgiveness, but I understand if you choose not to give it._

 _The only defense I have is this: I have seen your devotion to your sister first hand. I have seen how you would do anything to protect her from physical or emotional harm._

 _Well, Tommy may not be related to me by blood, but I consider him very much to be my brother, and he is someone for whom I would walk through fire, just as you would for your own sister._

 _I once again offer my sincere apologies, and I hope one day you may seek fit to forgive me._

 _Love,_

 _Oliver Queen_

When Felicity was finished reading, she looked up from the letter, her tired brain swimming in a confusing sea of new information. She didn't know what to think or what to say, so she read it again. And again. And again.

By the fifth rereading, her brain finally started to grasp onto the more salient points. The first point: Oliver Queen was paranoid — somewhat rightfully — about the people who wanted to be close to him and his friends.

Felicity could understand that to an extent. While she would have killed for the opportunities Oliver grew up with, she could see how his family's wealth and influence would have made it difficult for him to figure out who his real friends were. The story about Carter Bowen and Tommy's high school girlfriend would have scared anyone.

The second point: Oliver intervened on Tommy's behalf partly because Laurel didn't seem all that into Tommy.

Felicity rebelled against the reasonableness of the second half of that point almost on instinct. Anyone in the world would have been able to see that Laurel was so head over heels in love with Tommy Merlyn that she would have followed him to the ends of the earth. It showed in Laurel's eyes every time he was around, and when he wasn't, she wouldn't shut up about him.

But, a voice in her head protested, remember what Iris had first said after Tommy and Laurel first met? Iris had warned that Laurel needed to be more expressive about her feelings. She warned that not everyone would be able to read Laurel as well as Felicity could.

The more she thought about it, the less sure she felt about it. In social settings, Laurel sometimes could be shy in a big group of people. And of course Tommy and Oliver were never present at their girl talk sessions when Laurel gushed about Tommy. How were they ever supposed to know? And also, Laurel was reluctant to broach the topic of their future once the summer was coming to an end.

The thought that Laurel hadn't been as expressive as she thought made Felicity uneasy. So she set that aside for the moment.

And last, but not least, the last point: Oliver believed that her family was a bunch of gold diggers.

It was no secret to the town that five years ago, Felicity had to drop out of MIT during her sophomore year because her family had run into financial issues. But very, _very_ few people knew the cause of those financial issues. Sure, there was speculation and gossip, but no one knew the true, full story. The only two people Felicity had ever told outside the family were Barry and Iris, and she knew they would never tell a single soul.

So without knowing the extenuating circumstances or even the context of how it all went down, Felicity could see how Oliver might have gotten spooked over what he overheard. Hell, she would have freaked out too.

With a groan, she fell backward onto her bed, her head hitting her pillow with a loud _thwap_. That fucking incident, she thought darkly to herself. It kept coming back to bite her entire family in the ass, over and over again. Just when she thought she had gotten over it, there it was, once again poking at her dormant ire.

All in all, it left her a confused tired mess, and Felicity no longer knew what to think.

Felicity sighed, rolled over and threw the folded letter onto her bedside table. While her brain was a jumble of mixed emotion, there was one thing she was absolutely sure of.

She was exhausted. And she needed a freaking nap.

* * *

Felicity would have loved nothing more than to be able to forget all about Oliver's letter. She would have loved to have read it once, then put it completely out of her mind forever.

But that, unfortunately, wasn't the case.

After she woke up from her nap, she read the letter again. And she read it the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. And so on and so forth for two whole months. She practically had the thing memorized in its entirety by the time December rolled around.

Privately, she came to several conclusions about the letter. First, Oliver's actions, while having come from a good place, were still inexcusable. She could understand his devotion to his best friend, and she could understand his wariness. But it simply was not OK for him to break up a couple without at least trying to confirm that his suspicions were correct. He acted out of paranoia and bad faith as much as he was acting out love for his friend.

For breaking up Laurel and Tommy, she could not forgive him.

All that said, however, she had to reluctantly admire how much he loved Tommy. From his story about Carter Bowen in the first grade, Felicity realized it must not have been very easy for him to make friends as a young kid, so it was important to him to hold on to the ones he could trust. It was almost admirable how loyal he was, and it made her reassess her initial conclusion that he was nothing more than an unfeeling robot.

And finally, she realized that she and Oliver had much more in common that she ever could have imagined.

Felicity looked up Thea Queen's history and saw tabloid stories and paparazzi pictures of her stumbling out of cars with wild eyes, surrounded by people who likely weren't trying to get her home in one piece. She also saw pictures of the wrecked Porsche, Thea's mugshot, images of the young socialite crying in court during her arraignment.

That was the thing about drugs and addiction, Quentin would say. They didn't care who was rich and who was poor. Addiction was as egalitarian as it was ruthless.

She didn't dare talk about the letter with anyone. When she wasn't rereading it, she kept it folded up and tucked away in the pages of her journal, where no one would happen upon it.

Felicity had been taking on so many secrets lately, and she couldn't figure out when or how it started. It felt almost like one day she woke up and all of sudden she couldn't talk to anyone in her life about what was actually going on with her. It was a mix of being afraid that no one would understand how she felt and a genuine worry of how her secrets might affect her friends.

She wasn't the only one keeping things secret though. Despite the fact that Tommy had left in the middle of September, it was very obvious to Felicity that Laurel still had feelings for him. Every time Felicity mentioned Tommy or even mentioned something laterally related to him, Laurel's shoulders would hunch in a defensive posture. And sometimes, at night, Felicity could hear quiet sobs coming from her sister's room across the hall.

All in all, it wasn't really a banner winter for the Smoak-Lance girls, but they tried their hardest to keep their game faces. By the time the holidays rolled around, they were more or less back to acting like their normal, chipper selves. Sara was still overseas, but she sent her presents in time for their annual joint Hanukkah/Christmas celebration and she Skyped with the family on Boxing Day.

Life for the Smoak-Lances had gone back to the relative peace before Tommy Merlyn and Oliver Queen had upended their lives.

And what was more, two weeks into the new year, Felicity had finally hit a long-awaited milestone.

One Friday afternoon, she came home by throwing the front door open, touting a triumphant expression and a bottle of champagne.

"MOM! DAD! LAUREL!" she shouted as she slammed the door shut behind her in her excitement. "COME TO THE KITCHEN, I HAVE NEWS!"

When the family had gathered in the kitchen, Felicity was already waiting for them, four flutes of champagne fizzing at the ready. She handed one to each perplexed member before turning her beam to the rest of them.

"I can finally announce," she began dramatically, "THAT I HAVE OFFICIALLY PAID OFF MY STUDENT LOANS!"

Donna was the first to scream in excitement. "Oh, honey!" she shouted. "Congratulations! That's so big!"

"Yeah, way to go, Lissy," Laurel beamed as she hugged her sister.

"I'm very proud of you, young lady," Quentin nodded with a twinkle in his eye.

The four of them toasted to Felicity's news, and in her giddiness, the woman of the hour practically downed all the champagne in her flute with one swallow.

"So what's next?" Quentin asked as they all sat down around the dinner table.

"Well, I have close to fifteen thousand dollars in savings," Felicity said. "I think that might be enough to move to a big city and find an internship or maybe work as an IT grunt somewhere. Those kinds of jobs don't pay very well, but with my savings I figure I'll be able to survive for a little while, as I try to work up."

"Do you know where you want to go?" Laurel asked.

"Not yet, but when I went to Central City and took that tour of STAR Labs, Dr. Wells said he'd be willing to help me. Maybe I can move to Central City. Or even Coast City to work at Ferris Air. Or Wayne Enterprises in Gotham. There are so many possibilities."

Felicity smiled happily to herself as she thought about it. After five years of hard, boring and slightly demeaning work and saving every single penny she earned, she'd _finally_ be able to live her dream. She'd _finally_ get to move to a big city and work at a prestigious tech company. She'd _finally_ get to use her immense intelligence for something other than setting up a home wireless router.

Finally, finally, _finally_ she'd get to make a difference.

"Oh, sweetie." Donna reached across the table to take her daughter's hand. She was smiling, but there were also tears pooling in the bottom of her eyes. "Is it weird to say that I'm so proud of you for this, but I'm also heartbroken at the thought that you will leave home for good?"

She smiled back at her mother and squeezed her hand. "Don't worry, Mom. I still have to find a job first. And once I do, I promise I'll come back to visit as much as I can."

Quentin reached over to put his arm around his wife and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Don't worry, sweetheart. It's time Lissy finally left the nest. She should have left a long time ago."

She smiled up at her stepdad and he sent her a wink. It was good to know he had her back.

Later that week, Felicity sent an email to Dr. Wells telling him that she was finally in a comfortable enough financial position that she could start looking at jobs in bigger cities. She begged him to keep an eye out for her if he heard of anything, and he responded within hours that he would most definitely ask around for her.

A few days later, Felicity got a call from a number with a Star City area code she didn't recognize.

For a brief moment, she stared down at her phone while she bit her lip in consternation. There were very few reasons she'd get a call from someone in Star City, but the most likely scenario was that Oliver Queen was on the other end. And for what purpose, she had no clue.

After an inward battle over whether to answer it, her curiosity (as always) got the better of her and she swiped her screen to answer.

"Hello?"

"Yes, is this Felicity Smoak?"

"Yes?"

"Hi, Felicity." The voice was warm and polite and one she didn't recognize. Her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. "My name is Curtis Holt and I'm the vice president of technology at Unidac Industries in Star City. I actually got your number from Dr. Harrison Wells in Central City. I hope you don't mind that I gave you a call."

All the consternation Felicity felt over the unknown Star City number immediately melted away when he mentioned Dr. Wells. "Oh, that's totally fine!" Felicity squeaked.

"Great. Well I called him the other day because he knows practically every up-and-comer in the science and tech fields, wanting to know if he knew any promising young candidates for a job opening we have here at Unidac. We're looking for a projects manager, someone who can oversee and direct a few of the projects we've got in the works. And he immediately mentioned your name."

She could feel the excitement bubbling her blood. "What kind of projects?" she asked, trying her best to keep her voice level.

"Right now, Unidac is really exploring the untapped potential of renewable resources," he said. "Harnessing solar and wind power, but we're also drawing up plans for something I personally think is very exciting. Unfortunately, I can't tell you over the phone because we'd have to get you to sign some nondisclosure agreements first. But these projects have a lot of potential, and we need someone with vision to bring these into reality."

"Oh, I _definitely_ have vision," Felicity gushed. "I have tons and tons of vision. Vision up the wazoo, really. Call me glasses, because I'm all about vision."

She grimaces when she realized how much she was babbling, so she shut her mouth and counted down from three.

"That's great to hear," Curtis said on the other line, amusement in his voice. "If that's the case, would you be willing to come up to Star City in the next few weeks? We'd like to meet you, show you around the facilities. Maybe show you some of the projects we're working on."

"Yes," she agreed immediately. "Yes, I'd love to."

Felicity gave Curtis a few dates over the next few weeks. Then she gave him her email address and he promised to send her an email within the next few hours detailing an itinerary for her to tour Unidac Industries and interview with him and a few of the other higher ups.

Later that evening, her phone dinged and sure enough it was an email from Curtis with the promised itinerary. It carved out three whole days of tours at Unidac and interviews with everyone, from HR to the president of the company. Then there were two days afterward that she got to explore the city on her own. He listed several suggestions of sites she should see while she was in the city, and even offered to procure reservations and tickets to shows if she wanted.

She read the email again, and again, and again. All of a sudden, she felt incredibly nervous. It was one thing to dream about getting out of Hertfordshire and working at a big tech company and making a difference — it was something entirely different when it was actually happening.

Then she looked around her bedroom. It had remained relatively untouched since she graduated high school, when she was still going through an unfortunate goth phase. She still had the Matrix posters on her walls. She still had dark red curtains hanging over her window, and the bookcase plastered over with bumper stickers of different bands.

It all clashed so much with the person she was now. She had long since done away with the dark makeup and dark clothes. She started dying her hair blonde and wearing her glasses again.

She was different, but everything around her was still the same.

Felicity looked down at her phone, Curtis' itinerary staring back up at her.

This was her chance to put her childhood behind her. To put her past where it belonged and move on. To become who she knew she was meant to be.

It was time to take that leap of faith.

* * *

Curtis Holt was surprisingly young for a vice president of technology.

"I know, I know, I look like I'm still twelve," he said with a self-deprecating grin. "But I promise you I'm an adult with a driver's license and everything."

Felicity laughed at the way he introduced himself. Apparently he had to defend his youthful appearance more than once, but she didn't begrudge him that.

"It's very nice to meet you, Curtis," Felicity said, shaking his hand. "And thank you so much for the opportunity."

"Of course," he said graciously. "Dr. Wells told me you were definitely one I should keep my eye on, and his recommendation is something you can always count on. We knew we had to meet you."

For the next few hours, Curtis took Felicity on a tour of the Unidac Industries facilities. It was a relatively small operation in comparison to STAR Labs, but what it lacked in size, it made up for in ideas. She learned that Unidac's main area of focus was using renewable energy and finding ways to make the technology more prolific.

As she walked around and listened to Curtis' sales pitch on the company, Felicity felt her heart swell in her chest. This was _exactly_ the kind of thing she wanted to do, she realized. This was the kind of socially conscious company she wanted to dedicate her smarts to.

This was everything she wanted.

Near the end of the tour, they came up to a room with a heavy iron door and a serious looking keypad lock.

"Behind this door is the project that I mentioned on the phone earlier," Curtis said. "It's also the project that we had you sign about a million non-disclosure forms to even hear about."

Felicity's heart sped up.

"I say all of this to remind you that what you're about to see is absolutely top secret," he warned. "You cannot breathe a word of what you see in this room to anyone."

She nodded solemnly as adrenaline started pumping through her veins. She was beyond pumped to see what was in there.

With a dramatic flourish, Curtis punched in the combination and the door fell open.

On first glance, the insides were...well, anticlimactic. It looked like any other open office space. There were standing desks, sitting desks, a few desktop computers, a printer in the corner...it was all very generic.

But Curtis bypassed all the normal office stuff to a long workstation in the very back of the room. On the workstation sat a plexiglas case with what looked like a lithium battery.

"This," he gestured proudly, "is what we've been working on."

Felicity tilted her head in confusion as she stared at it. "A battery?"

"Not just any battery," he countered. "It's an _eternal_ battery. It never dies."

Her eyes widened in appropriate shock when Curtis revealed what it was. "Whoa…" she whispered reverently as she crouched down until she was eye level with it. "I thought this was still in the theoretical stage. I thought no one knew how to make this a reality yet."

"Not here. At Unidac, we're trying to corner the market on all breaking edge, renewable energy technology. When we heard that an eternal battery was theoretically possible, we immediately set to work trying to make it a practical reality."

"How?"

Curtis smirked. "You don't work here _yet_ , Miss Smoak."

Felicity chuckled, but turned her head back to the miracle in front of her. An eternal battery. Something that never died. It was a tremendous piece of technology, and the names of the people who worked on it would live forever, just like the battery they invented.

She wanted to be a part of that.

Once she had gotten her fill of staring at the project and once she had squeezed all the disclosable information out of Curtis as she could — which admittedly, wasn't very much — she was escorted out of the lab and brought up to the third floor, which was the executive level.

"Now, Felicity, in the interest of fairness and full disclosure," he warned, "I am obligated to tell you that we're in the midst of a buyout."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You are?"

He nodded. "We've been assured by our future owners that very little about our day-to-day operations will change. We'll still retain management, we'll still be able to do our own thing. The only difference is we'll be better funded to do our own thing and all of the intellectual property built here will transfer to our new owner."

"And who is that new owner?"

"That would be Queen Consolidated."

But it wasn't Curtis Holt who said it.

No, it was a far different voice. A voice Felicity thought she'd never hear again.

Her stomach immediately dropped to her knees, and ice started to spread through her veins. With slow, dreadful steps, she turned in her spot to find the source of that voice.

Oliver Queen stood before her with a solemn expression and his hands at his side, while he rubbed his thumb against his forefinger.

"It's nice to see you again, Felicity."


	8. Chapter 8

Well shit.

Those were the only words that were running through Felicity's mind as Oliver stepped closer, his hand outstretched to shake hers. There was a part of her brain that was on autopilot, so it made her raise her hand like some sort of pavlovian response. But the rest of her was just numb with shock.

"Oh, you two know one another?" Curtis asked.

"We met this summer in Hertfordshire," Oliver answered. "I didn't realize that you were the person interviewing for the projects manager position."

"I didn't realize you were buying this company," she answered.

She must have startled him with her response (God only knew she had startled herself) because the corners of his lips lifted into a smile. In all her dealings with Oliver Queen, she could count on one hand the number of times she'd seen him smile, and every single time she would feel her heart pounding in her chest at the sight of its beauty, no matter what she felt toward him.

This was no exception.

"Well in your defense, we _have_ been keeping it a secret," he quipped.

Oh God, she thought in deepening shock. And he was joking. He was capable of joking. He was capable of actual, honest-to-God human conversation.

Who _was_ this guy?

"So," he continued, "where are you on the tour of the facilities?"

"We were just wrapping up," Curtis piped in. "Felicity here got to see the battery, and I'd say — judging by her expression — she was pretty impressed."

The woman in question blushed at the retelling.

"Excellent," Oliver nodded. "Well if you're wrapping up here, you're probably headed out on your way to dinner, aren't you?"

"Yes, that was the next thing on the itinerary," Curtis affirmed.

"Have you picked a place yet?"

Curtis shook his head.

"Well let me suggest the Star City Diner's Club, at the Emerald Tower," Oliver said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "If they stop you at the door, give them my name and they'll seat you immediately."

Curtis' eyes widened in shock, and Felicity stared at him in curiosity. "Of-of course!" he nodded with excitement. "Thank you so much, Mr. Queen!"

He smiled again and it all but confirmed for Felicity that this was not, in fact, Oliver Queen. The Oliver Queen she knew didn't smile, and he certainly didn't have the capacity to make jokes.

With a final nod, and a small wave, Oliver disappeared behind a door Felicity hadn't noticed before, presumably to do business-y things. Once he was gone, she let out a shaky breath.

Well, at least that wasn't a huge disaster, she thought to herself.

"So," Curtis said, turning to her. "You hungry?"

A short cab ride later, Curtis and Felicity arrived at the base of one of the taller skyscrapers in downtown Star City, called the Emerald Tower. Curtis informed her that the Diner's Club was at the very top floor, so they rode the elevator all the way up the dizzying fifty-two floors.

When the elevator doors opened, Felicity felt confused for a moment. She thought maybe they might have gotten off on the wrong floor because all she saw was a small, nondescript room, covered in wood paneling. A solitary person stood at a podium in the far left corner.

"May I help you?" she asked as they approached her. Her appearance was sleek — slicked back hair, all black clothes and patent leather heels.

"Yes, we're here for dinner," Curtis told her. "I'm Curtis Holt and this is Felicity Smoak."

The woman smile blandly back at them. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid your names aren't on the list."

Curtis smiled back. "We're guests of Mr. Queen's."

Oliver's name was like some sort of key. The minute Curtis said it, the woman perked up, standing a little straighter, her smile wider. "Oh, of course. Right this way."

With that, the woman turned and opened the sliding, wood-paneled door behind her.

The room on the other side was _much_ more impressive, to say the least. It was a moderately large room with dimmed lighting radiating from gorgeous, modern-looking chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. The left side of the space was lined with sleek black booths with smaller tables for two lining the other side, and tables of different sizes scattered all throughout the middle. The wall on the right side was one giant window, spanning one end of the room to the other, and since it was on the fifty-second floor, it had a stunning view of downtown Star City.

The woman led them to a four-top in a secluded corner of the room, right next to the window. "This is Mr. Queen's table," she said. "Please enjoy."

Once she left, Felicity let out an incredulous laugh. "Holy cow," she whispered reverently, taking in the crystal wine glasses and sterling silver place settings. "This place is _incredible_."

Curtis nodded in excitement. "This is the Star City Dining Club. It's one of the most exclusive dining clubs on the West Coast. There are only two ways you can be part of it: you can be invited to join — which is the super hard way because you have to have a certain income and a certain level of name recognition — or you can put your name in a lottery for an invitation. They only give out invitations when there's a vacancy, and there's a two-year waiting list to get your name in."

She let out a low whistle. "How many members does it have?"

"Forty," Curtis said solemnly. "And there are even different levels of membership. There's the bottom tier, where you can only eat here once a week and you can only bring one other person with you as your guest, and they _have_ to be with you to dine here. Then there's the second tier, where you can dine here three times a week and you can bring two guests. The top tier is the most exclusive: only ten people are on it. They can dine here whenever they want and they can bring as many guests as they want. _And_ they don't have to be here to let their guests dine here."

"Let me guess — Mr. Queen is on that top tier."

He made a face at her that was supposed to mean _duh_.

"If it's so exclusive, how do you know so much about this place?" Felicity asked.

"Well my husband and I have been on the waiting list for a year now, trying to get into the lottery," he said. "Plus, the Star City Diner's Club was featured on an episode of 'Filthy Stinking Rich: Star City.'"

She nodded. "So at the risk of sounding like a hick, what's so great about this place?"

"Well first of all, the food is amazing," Curtis gushed. "The chef is known as a visionary. But aside from the food, this is where a lot of business takes place in Star City. Most of the top executives are top tier members of this dining club, and they take advantage of their membership to conduct business away from prying ears."

All of a sudden, Felicity felt a little self conscious. She'd been to a few fancy restaurants in her lifetime, but never were they so exclusive. Nervously, she smoothed down her hair.

The waitress came by at that moment with two glasses of chilled waters. Then she disappeared.

Felicity watched her go away in confusion. "What, no menus?" she asked Curtis.

He shook his head. "It's a different pre-fixe menu every night. Four different courses, each with its own wine pairing."

Oh. Well then never mind, she thought to herself.

They both sipped on their water in companionable silence. Then, Curtis decided to break it.

"So, do you mind my asking? How do you know Oliver Queen?"

Felicity felt a blush creep up her cheeks. What a story that was, she thought sardonically to herself. She was also certain that if she told him the whole truth, there was a pretty good chance she wouldn't get hired.

"It's like he said, we met in Hertfordshire when he was on vacation there this past summer," she hedged. "Hertfordshire's so small that we meet all the tourists every season. We got to meet him and Tommy Merlyn on their first day in town."

Curtis nodded. "That's kind of cool, getting to know Mr. Queen in a social setting."

She fidgeted in her seat. There wasn't really anything she could say to that statement that wasn't a lie or wasn't unflattering.

"So, as a prospective future employee," Felicity began, "should I be worried about the buyout?"

"No, not at all," Curtis replied breezily. "Queen Consolidated has assured us that our daily operations will remain unchanged. The reason they wanted to acquire us is because they want to invest in renewable energy, and we're the company that's exploring these options the most. They want us to keep doing what we're doing."

"But do you trust that?" she prodded. "I mean, you always hear about these buyouts where bigger companies take over these smaller, promising companies and gut the whole thing in the process."

He shrugged. "I can see why you'd be worried about it. I was worried at first as well. But Mr. Queen has shown nothing but honesty and acted in complete good faith throughout the entire process."

Felicity's eyebrows quirked upward. "Really?"

He nodded. "We've been in negotiations for close to a year now. In the last three months, Mr. Queen has taken over temporarily in the transition as the head of operations at Unidac, and he's been nothing but forthright in everything he's done. He doesn't want to gut Unidac — he wants to turn it into the applied sciences division of Queen Consolidated. He wants to make our operations bigger. In fact, that's the reason I get the chance to hire for the position you're interviewing for. He wants to put more resources into what we do, which means hiring more people. Once the merger is complete, our operations will double in size."

Felicity took a moment to chew on that information. Sure, Queen Consolidated was very obviously a tech company, but she always thought that businessmen like Oliver were just all about the bottom line.

"Plus, it's not just the business stuff — it's all the stuff he does outside the boardroom."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"He's one of the most generous men I've ever met in my life," he said solemnly. "And I'm not just saying that like some kind of suck up. I'm saying it because it's true. A few months ago, one of our contracted cleaning people got into an accident that totaled her car. She couldn't afford to buy a new one, so she was waking up at four in the morning to take three different buses to work every day. When he found out, Mr. Queen went out and bought her a new car."

Felicity blinked in surprise. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Curtis nodded. "He even got her a minivan because he knew she had kids in elementary school."

She didn't know what to say in light of learning that news. The Oliver Queen she'd gotten to know didn't seem like the kind of person who would do something like that.

"And that's just a big gesture," Curtis continued. "It's the smaller things, too. Like when he remembers people's birthdays, or when he sits down to have a cute conversation with a rambunctious four-year-old on Bring Your Kid to Work Day. Or adding us as his guests to the most exclusive dining club in the city."

Felicity started fidgeting again. For some reason, the thought of Oliver Queen being thoughtful and generous made her a little uncomfortable, because it just didn't jive with the image she held onto for so long.

The waitress came back a few minutes later with the first course and the accompanying wine. Then she left, like a specter, the same way she appeared.

"I know this place is supposed to be super exclusive and all," Felicity began, "but the invisible server thing is kind of creepy."

Curtis laughed. "The food will make up for it, I promise."

* * *

"Laurel, the company is perfect," Felicity gushed.

After the amazing dinner, Curtis dropped her back off at her hotel where she immediately called her sister to tell her all about the interview — barring the things she was bound by nondisclosure forms to keep secret, of course. She talked about how funny Curtis was, how the company's vision for renewable energy was perfect for her and a million other things.

"That's incredible," Laurel exclaimed. "Do you think they'll make you an offer?"

"That depends," Felicity said. "Earlier I was sure they would, but now…"

She could practically hear her sister frowning on the other end of the line. "Why do you think that changed?"

"Well when the tour was winding down this afternoon, Curtis told me the company was in the middle of a buyout."

"Who's buying them out?"

"Queen Consolidated."

A pause. Then, "You're kidding."

"Hand to God."

Laurel let out a surprised laugh. "Well...I mean, OK. So Queen Consolidated is buying the company you're interviewing for. Why would that get in the way of them hiring you?"

Felicity sighed as she pressed the back of her head against the headboard. Only because the temporary head of operations professed his love for me months ago and I turned him down in the meanest way possible, she thought to herself. But of course she couldn't tell her sister any of that without divulging other things.

"I don't know. Maybe Oliver still thinks I'm not good enough to work there or something," she hedged.

Laurel hummed. "Well, don't count yourself out just yet, Lissy. You've still got two more days to prove him wrong. Besides, this is the chance you've been waiting for _so long_. You can't just let it pass by."

Short of building a time machine to go back in time and prevent herself from going to that stupid Beach Bash, she didn't see how she could really salvage this situation. But Laurel, was right — she owed it to herself to try.

The next day, Felicity showed up to Unidac Industries for her second day. According to the itinerary, she would spend the day meeting and talking to the people in the special projects division, since they were they people she would oversee if she got the job.

All told, it went very well. The team members were friendly and welcoming, asking her questions about her background and her interest in green technology. They were surprised at first when she told them that she didn't finish her degree at MIT, and she was afraid she might have lost them for a moment. But when someone mentioned a computer program that saved battery life, Felicity told them she had written that code during her freshman year of college for her practical applications professor. That immediately brought her back into their good graces.

The final day at Unidac was slated for meeting the higher level executives, and now that Felicity knew that the company was going through a merger with Queen Consolidated, she had braced herself for having to interview with Oliver. Perhaps even Moira.

When she arrived that morning Curtis brought her to the executive's office and handed her off to the assistant waiting outside the door. "Good luck," he winked before walking back to his own office.

The assistant smiled blandly up at Felicity and told her that his boss would meet with her in just a moment. She nodded and started pacing in front of the door, trying very hard not to rub her sweaty palms against the skirt she borrowed from her sister.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Oliver appeared. "Hello, Felicity," he said with a cordial smile. "Are you ready?"

No, she thought to herself.

"Yes," she said as she walked forward on shaky legs. He stepped aside and allowed her into his office, and as she passed by, she caught a whiff of his aftershave. It was enough to send her already frazzled nerves into overdrive.

Oliver closed the door behind her, and Felicity glanced around. The office was modest in size — it wasn't as large as she imagined it would have been. It was twice the size of her bedroom at home, but it had a gorgeous window behind the sandy-wooded desk. There were two armchairs in front of the desk, and he invited her to take a seat.

Once they were both settled, he once again gave her a polite smile that didn't hold any trace of animosity. "How are you doing?"

"Well," she answered, her hands firmly clasped together in her lap. She hoped desperately that the thumping of her heart wasn't nearly as loud as she thought it was.

Oliver's smile widened into something that looked almost...gentle. "Before we get started, I just want to let you know that you don't have anything to be nervous about in this room," he began. "This is just a chance for me to get to know your work ethic better and to see if you are a good fit for what we're trying to do here."

She swallowed hard. "That's all well and good, but how do I know you won't use...outside knowledge to inform your decision?"

He shrugged. "You won't. But suffice it to say that as a fairly practical businessman, I'm good at making the best decisions for my company."

That was only fair, she thought to herself.

"So then, Felicity, tell me: why do you want to work here?"

She took in a deep breath. "I want to work for Unidac Industries because this is exactly the kind of company the world needs."

He raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

"The earth keeps getting warmer, despite what climate change deniers say. We're living on ticking time bomb, and if we don't stop it now, humanity is in big trouble. Unidac Industries is trying to solve the problem — they're trying to find solutions for corporations to go green that won't be completely cost prohibitive, and that's _exactly_ the kind of thing the world needs. I want to be a part of that change."

Oliver regarded her quietly as he took in her mini speech. "It's clear that your passion is also something you bring to the table. Aside from the ideas and passion, what else can Unidac Industries stand to benefit from if we hire you?"

"I'm a hard worker," she answered. "I have an incredible work ethic, and I think that as a leader, that can inspire my fellow teammates. So I'd say work ethic and inspiration."

The interview continued. With each question Oliver asked, Felicity felt herself relax more and more until she almost forgot who he was and all the baggage they collectively brought into the room.

"I have one last question," he said, near the end of the interview. "You feel very strongly about technology and its ability to change the world. Why?"

She paused for a moment to think carefully about the answer to his question.

"People have all sorts of different belief systems," she began slowly. "Some people believe in God. Some people believe in reincarnation. Some people believe in nature and mysticism. But me — I believe in science. I believe that science has the power to make people's lives better.

"History is filled with so many examples of science saving and changing lives. The development of vaccines prevent millions of child deaths every year. The moon landing taught us that if we want to, we can touch the stars. The Internet connects all of humanity together with a free exchange of ideas.

"Religions are meaningless unless they inspire people to do good and to help one another. Well, science is my religion, and it inspires me daily to help other people. And it's clear to me that everyone here at Unidac feels the same way. That's why I belong here."

Oliver fell silent at her answer, but the electricity in the room filled the void. He stared at her from across his desk, some kind of intense emotion locked in his blue eyes.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Felicity murmured.

He shook his head slowly.

"Why did Queen Consolidated want to acquire Unidac? Whose decision was it?"

He took in a deep breath. "Well the company line is that Unidac's assets nicely dovetail into what we're trying to do at Queen Consolidated."

She raised her eyebrows. "And what's your line?"

"My line is that Queen Consolidated is one of the biggest corporations on the planet, and is also one of the biggest polluters. The way we do business isn't sustainable, and barring sending an exploratory space shuttle out there to look for habitable planets, we need to start doing something now to make sure we have something to leave for our children. The problem is, no corporation wants to take the lead in green technology — they're all waiting for someone else to start. If Queen Consolidated starts, makes a concentrated effort at going green and succeeding in it, then maybe we can inspire other companies to do the same thing."

Felicity's heart was thumping in her chest. They were on the same page. They believed the same thing.

Holy cow.

"So," she began, but her voice was too hoarse. She cleared her throat and tried again. "So are you the one who's going to be in charge of Unidac when the merger is complete?"

"For a little while during the transition," he nodded. "At the moment I've mostly been acting as the liaison between Queen Consolidated and Unidac, but once the acquisition is official, we'll be turning Unidac into our applied sciences division. I'll be the interim director of operations until the transition is complete and we find a permanent director of operations. After that, I'll return to QC as the chief operations officer."

Felicity nodded. "Well. That's...that's good."

Oliver nodded as well. "Was that all?"

She looked up to stare into his eyes. His bright eyes and his open expression — all of it seemed so different than that man she'd known. Or the man she thought she knew.

"You never answered my original question. Whose idea was it to buy Unidac?"

He smiled. "I thought that was obvious with my answer. It was mine."

She nodded again. It seemed like that was the only reaction she was capable of. "Right. Of course."

Sensing that the interview was coming to an end, Oliver shifted around some paper son his desk before standing up. "Well then, Felicity. Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me this morning."

She took her cue from him and stood up to shake his outstretched hand. "Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to interview with you," she answered. "I really, really appreciate it."

He smiled again. It was starting to look more and more natural on his face, though she didn't quite know if she'd get used to how her heart sped up at the sight.

Oliver escorted her out of his office and was about to hand her off to Curtis who was waiting for her by his assistant's desk. "So, Felicity. When do you return to Hertfordshire?"

"In two days," she answered. "I took a separate day to explore the city."

"Have you ever been before?"

"No, this is my first time."

"Oh." He looked a little surprised at the news, but he quickly recovered and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Well then why don't I introduce you to my sister, Thea? She's got a couple of days off from school, and she knows the social scene way better than I do."

Felicity's eyes widened. Thea? Thea _Queen_? The same sister he mentioned in his letter?

"How does that sound?" Oliver prompted.

"Great," she squeaked. "That sounds great."

"Wonderful. I'll give her your number and she'll get back to you later."

* * *

The thought of going out on the town with Thea Queen was straight up terrifying for Felicity. First of all, what the hell had Oliver even told his sister about her? Second of all, she was a _Queen_. The first time Felicity had ever shared a meal with Oliver, he'd gone on and on about how accomplished she was, how she was fluent in multiple languages and could probably flip a guy over her head from her krav maga lessons. Just what were they supposed to talk about?

Felicity felt all the dread well up inside of her as she waited for the famous Thea Queen in the lobby of her hotel. At six p.m. on the dot, the woman herself walked right up to where she sat.

"Hi, are you Felicity?" Thea asked brightly.

She jumped from her seat, like a jack in the box. "Hi," she blurted. "Yes, I'm Felicity. Felicity Smoak."

"Thea Queen," the young woman introduced herself with a smile. "It's really nice to meet you. My brother's told me a lot about you."

That was exactly what she'd been dreading. "Well that's swell," Felicity muttered under her breath.

"Oh, don't worry," Thea giggled. "All good things, I promise."

Felicity didn't quite believe that, but she let it go.

Once introductions had been made, Thea gestured for Felicity to follow her out of the hotel. One of the valets out front hopped out of a sleek red convertible with the top up and left the door open for her. "Miss Queen," he said deferentially. The young woman shot him a winning smile while another valet opened the passenger door for Felicity.

Seconds later, they were zooming off and Felicity was clutching hard to the handle next to her. She didn't realize the billionaire heiress seemed to be a speed queen. And sure, Felicity had imagined what her death would be like millions of times before. She just never imagined that it would be in the passenger seat of Thea Queen's car.

Thea noticed her companion's terrified expression in the passenger's seat and she laughed. "Don't freak out, Felicity. I like going fast, but I haven't gotten into an accident since I've gotten sober. And I've been sober for a while now."

If nothing else, Thea's nonchalant reference to her addiction problems shocked Felicity out of her terror. "I didn't mean to — "

"I know you didn't," Thea interrupted gently. "It's just easier to get it out of the way early on. That way there's no awkwardness or anything."

Felicity nodded. She understood the rationale.

"So...where are you taking me?"

"There is a wonderful little jazz club in the Glades called Verdant," Thea said. "It's in my father's old steel factory, and I also happen to be part owner. I figure we can go there and enjoy some live music and we can talk."

That sounded pretty great to Felicity, so she relaxed a little in her seat.

Once they arrived at Verdant, a swarm of paparazzi descended upon Thea's car. In a haze of confusion and immense shock, Felicity froze in their wake, but Thea hopped out of the car, grabbed onto Felicity's elbow and pushed her way through the throng, ignoring the flashes and the shouted questions.

Eventually they got through the jostling crowd and into the safety of the building. The bouncers standing in front of the club pushed back the paparazzi and closed the doors firmly behind them.

"Sorry about that," Thea apologized. "I don't know how they heard that we were coming here."

"It's fine," Felicity answered as she straightened her clothes. "I should have expected it, honestly."

Once they had recalibrated themselves, Thea led Felicity up a flight of stairs to the balcony overlooking the whole club.

As she took it all in, Felicity couldn't help but think that there was _no way_ this place had been a steel mill. The only clue really was the sheer size of the place; everything else — from the hardwood floors to the towering plants and cream colored walls made it feel like just the place for a tasteful jazz club.

The musicians were in the middle of setting up on a stage at the bottom. The bassist plucked at a random string every so often as he tuned, the keyboard player was fiddling around with switches and cords, and the horn players were flipping through sheets of music they kept on their music stands.

The two women settled into a booth next to the railing, which had the best view of the stage. The minute their butts touched the seats, a waitress appeared seemingly from out of nowhere.

"I'll have a club soda," Thea said. "Felicity?"

The blonde glanced up. "Oh. Um...I'll take a cabernet?"

The waitress nodded and disappeared almost as quickly as she came.

"So," Thea began, "how are you liking Star City so far?"

"It's great," Felicity nodded. "It's so...so different than Hertfordshire. It's big, which is mostly what I like about it. I can get lost here. I can disappear into a crowd because no one knows who I am — no one knows who my parents are, and no one knows about the time I stepped on our third grade class hamster."

Thea laughed at that.

"I've always wanted to live in a big city. There's more to do and more to see. And I always feel like there are big, important things happening. Plus, the feeling of anonymity is pretty great, you know?"

Thea sighed. "I wish."

Felicity's face fell when she realized what she said and who she said it to. This was Thea Queen, for crying out loud. Didn't she spend weeks looking back on all of the tabloid news of her downward spiral into addiction? Didn't they have to fight a crowd of paparazzi just to get into this place?

"I'm sorry," Felicity said quietly. "It can't be easy."

Thea sighed, but shrugged her petite shoulders. "No, it isn't. But I've got a great support system, which is more than I can say for a lot of people who have to deal with addiction."

Felicity gave her a sad smile. "Yeah. I can imagine."

The waitress came by at that moment with their drinks, then once again dissolved into the shadows.

"So, do you mind if I ask a question?" Thea asked.

"No, not at all."

"How did you meet my brother?"

Felicity sipped at her wine with her eyebrows raised over the rim. "You mean Oliver didn't tell you?"

"He didn't tell me specifics, which probably means it doesn't make him look very good," Thea said.

That forced a laugh out of Felicity.

"You know your brother well," she chuckled. Then she proceeded to recount the Beach Bash. She even told her about the secret conversation she overheard between Oliver and Tommy behind the bathrooms, the same one in which Oliver basically called Felicity a hick and a dunce.

Thea winced when Felicity got to that part. "Yeah…" she trailed off. "My brother is...well, my brother has never done well with strangers. In strange places."

"That's what everyone has told me," Felicity nodded. "But while I've seen him here, he's like...he's like a completely different person. In Hertfordshire and in Central City, he practically _never_ smiled, but here he smiles all the time. I almost didn't recognize him with his teeth showing."

Thea laughed. "I know what you're saying. I actually have a theory about that."

"And that is?"

"Well, like I said, Ollie's really bad around people he doesn't know. He's _especially_ bad when he's in a place he doesn't know. It's one thing to make him talk to a stranger, but it's a whole different thing when he's away from Star City. It makes him uncomfortable and moody, like there's something permanently stuck up his butt. It's why he made such a terrible impression in Hertfordshire. In Central City he was probably a little more personable, right? Well, that's because he goes to Central City a lot on business. He knows the city well, but it's not home. Once he's home, he's so much more like himself."

It was almost like Thea had flipped a switch in Felicity's brain. Oliver's behavior suddenly made _so much more sense_ — his rigid and uncomfortable demeanor in Hertfordshire, his looser but still reserved attitude in Central City...then his completely different manner here in Star City.

It wasn't that Oliver was acting like a pod version of himself around her, now that she was here — no, he was finally himself. For the first time, she saw him for who he really was.

"Why do you think that is?" Felicity asked.

Thea shrugged. "I'm not really sure," she admitted. "I mean, I think to some extent all of us are the same way, right? We're different people outside our comfort zones than we are in them. But I think with Ollie it's because of the whole billionaire complex."

"Billionaire complex?"

"Yeah. There's tons of people who want to be friends with him just because he's rich and famous and handsome, and there are even more women out there who want to date him for those reasons. Star City's pretty much used to him, and he knows who to stay away from when he's here. But when he's elsewhere, he doesn't have that home field advantage."

Thea was dropping truth bomb after truth bomb right in front of her, so much so that Felicity was beginning to question everything she ever thought about Oliver and his family. She was seeing him with brand-new eyes, and it was almost disorienting.

The younger woman was watching Felicity very carefully. "I'm really glad I got to meet with you, you know," she said. "My brother had said so much about you that I got really curious. With how weird he is about new people from new places, I figured you had to be really special to catch his attention."

Felicity blushed. "Do you...do you mind if I ask…?"

"What he's been saying about you?"

"Well...yeah."

Thea smirked. "Well he told me you were very pretty and incredibly smart. I believe his words were, 'She's got one of those brains you rarely see outside of Silicon Valley or Harvard.'"

That made Felicity's blush deepen. Words completely escaped her.

Thea seemed to realize how embarrassed Felicity was, so she leaned forward and placed a hand on the other woman's arm.

"You know, Felicity — my brother doesn't make the best first impression in the world, but once he feels loyal to someone, he'll stick by their side no matter what. It's a small but privileged group, and I think it's safe to say that you can count yourself in it."

* * *

At the end of her very pleasant evening with Thea Queen, the younger woman dropped Felicity off at her hotel with a promise to take her to brunch the next morning to start off a fully day of Star City shopping.

Felicity was waiting in the lobby, and once again, Thea appeared at ten a.m., right on the dot. But this time, she had someone else in tow.

"Oliver," Felicity said in surprise. "I...I didn't…what I mean is...well you're...I mean..."

The man in question raised an eyebrow while Thea struggled to hide her smile.

"I didn't realize you were coming with us," Felicity finished lamely.

"That's all right, isn't it?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Of course," she answered, her tone a few octaves higher than normal. She immediately went red while her inner self continued to berate her for how dumb and awkward she was acting.

"Great," Thea chirped. "I know a great place out in Starling Heights. It just opened a few weeks ago and the sous chef has a big crush on me, so we'll get stuff for free."

Oliver rolled his eyes and Felicity couldn't help but laugh. It was heartwarming to know that even billionaire children could have such typical sibling interactions.

They were about to walk out of the lobby when Felicity's phone started buzzing. She paused to pull her phone out of her purse and saw Laurel's picture pop up on the caller ID.

"Hey, Laurel," she greeted as soon as she answered. "Listen, I can't really talk — "

"Lissy, you have to come home."

The tone in her voice immediately sent ice running through Felicity's veins. It also didn't escape her notice that Laurel's voice was wavering, almost like she was crying.

"Why? What happened? What's going on?"

A pause.

"It's Sara."


	9. Chapter 9

Felicity took in a deep breath as she stared out the tiny airplane window. It hadn't taken off yet, so all she could see was the runway and the people on the ground waving around their orange cones. In a few minutes, though, they'd be airborne and she'd have to watch in sadness as the Star City skyline got fainter and fainter in the distance.

Leaving was the very last thing she wanted to do. For the first time in so long, she felt like she actually belonged somewhere, and it was hell being forced to leave it.

She closed her eyes and thought back to Laurel's phone call. She could hear the wavering in her sister's voice and Donna's sobs in the background. It was all she could focus on. She couldn't hear the words, only how they were said.

The rest of the phone call was a blur. Because after Laurel said, "It's Sara," her next words blocked all other thought.

"Lissy, she's...she's off the wagon."

Everything around Felicity suddenly went blank. One moment she was standing in the lobby of the Starling Grand with Thea and Oliver Queen standing beside her and the next thing she knew, she was back in her hotel room, pacing back and forth while Thea and Oliver sat in the chairs by the window, looking on with worry.

Her memory of the phone call was hazy, but there were parts that implanted in Felicity's brain. _Arrested...charged with possession…dishonorable discharge..._

The next thing she remembered was pulling her phone away from her face to hang up. And suddenly she was back in the present, feverishly trying to find a way to get back home.

"Felicity?" Thea asked hesitantly when she saw the other woman bolt across the room for her tablet. "What are you doing?"

"I'm seeing if I can't get my flight changed to this afternoon," she answered in a rush.

She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table. It was ten-thirty...and there was a flight at noon...if she rushed to finish her packing, then maybe she'd make it...but if she couldn't make that, there was another at one...but shit, that one was oversold...

"Why?" Thea demanded. "What's going on?"

In any other situation and any other scenario, Felicity would have been hypersensitive of the fact that Oliver and Thea Queen were in her room with her, watching in confusion as she scrambled to schedule the earliest flight she could out of Star City back to Hertfordshire.

But this wasn't any other situation and any other scenario. Her brain was so frazzled and her thoughts were too all over the place that she answered the question without even thinking about it first.

"It's my sister," she rushed. "I have to go home."

"Laurel?" Oliver asked.

"No, Sara."

"Felicity, talk to us," Thea urged. "What's going on? What happened?"

Felicity swiped across her screen almost at the speed of light. "Um, I'm not entirely sure," she answered, but she wasn't paying attention to them — she was too busy looking for a flight. "I just...do either of you have the customer service number for the airline?"

"Felicity — "

"Is it too late to move my flight up to today? Will I get penalized for that? Or will they stick me on standby? What if I don't get on?"

"Wait a minute — "

"Or there are probably other deals with other airlines. I'm going to look for other airlines. Do you know who has the most flights into Hertfordshire? Will I be able to transfer my ticket?"

"Slow down — "

"I CAN'T SLOW DOWN!" Felicity shouted. "I can't slow down because my sister is in _trouble_ and I'm not there! I _need_ to be there!"

"Felicity," Oliver said firmly. He pulled the tablet out of her hands, then took her firmly by the shoulders so she was forced to look into his eyes. "Pause for a moment and take a deep breath."

She didn't want to take a breath. She wanted her tablet back so she could find a way to get back home.

But something in his eyes made her pause. Reluctantly, she did as he instructed, inhaling and exhaling slowly until her heart rate normalized.

"OK," he began. "Now tell us, what happened?"

The adrenaline slowly drained out of her bloodstream, and all she was left with was dread. Overwhelming panic and dread.

"Sara, she's…" Tears started welling up in Felicity's eyes and she swiped them away. "She was arrested. The cops found heroin on her."

The room got deathly quiet, but Felicity was too distracted by her thoughts — thoughts of her little sister on a street corner in the dead of night somewhere looking to score some heroin; thoughts of her little sister shooting up between her toes so no one would see the track marks; thoughts of her little sister sitting in the back of a cop car, frightened and out of her mind.

All of these thoughts suddenly overwhelmed her and she felt her knees collapse beneath her. But before she hit the ground, Oliver caught her and steered her gently back to the bed. Once she was settled, he ran into the bathroom to grab a box of tissues and returned to set them beside her while he kneeled in front of her.

"Is she OK?" Thea asked.

"Yeah," Felicity sniffed. "Laurel said she's home right now. Which is why I have to be there."

Oliver placed a gentle hand on her knee. "Hey," he said softly. "Look at me."

She glanced up and was almost immediately sucked in by his deep blue eyes and the soothing comfort she found there.

"We will make sure you get home," he told her. "Thea and I will take care of it, all right?"

Felicity didn't know why or how, but there was something about his hypnotizing eyes that made her heartbeat slow by just a tiny bit. The warm hand on her knee also helped; it was like a weight, an anchor she could focus on to keep her thoughts from getting caught up in the tornado of fear that was threatening to sweep her up again.

Once she was breathing a little more slowly, Oliver turned to Thea, and she gave him a nod in return. Then she was pulling out her phone while simultaneously walking out of the hotel room and into the hallway.

Felicity took in another deep breath. Sadness started to overtake her, now that her panic had abated slightly. Her sister, her little sister was in trouble and she didn't know what was going on or what would happen next. She reached for a tissue and pressed it against her eyes.

"Sara," she whispered sadly, "Sara...what have you done?"

Oliver's hand, which never left her knee, squeezed a little. "Felicity?" he whispered.

She sniffed and closed her eyes. "Sara, she...she's always been the wild child of the three of us, you know? Laurel was the pretty one, I was the smart one and she...she was the bubbly, outgoing one. She had a million friends when we were growing up, and once she got to high school she was the most popular kid in her grade. She got invited to more parties than Laurel and I combined."

Felicity closed her eyes and thought back to their teenage years. She thought back to all the times that Sara would come home at two in the morning, completely drunk and high on whatever her friend passed to her at the party she came from. Their parents tried to set limits: curfews, epic groundings, etc. But Sara always found a way to get in trouble.

"By her senior year, she was...she was out of control," Felicity continued. "Laurel was in law school and I was at MIT, so neither of us were there to help reign her in, and our parents were at their wits end. The night of her graduation, she got into a car accident with three of her friends. All of them were drunk and high on heroin."

Oliver didn't say anything, which made it easier for her to tell the story. This was something she and her family never talked about. She suppressed it deep inside of her because of all the anger and pain associated with the incident.

"All of them survived. They were incredibly lucky that no one else was injured, but they were all in possession of illegal narcotics and they were driving drunk. And what's more, they were under age. Sara was arrested and charged, but since it was her first offense, the judge decided to be lenient on her and send her to rehab instead."

She looked up from the hands interlocked in her lap and gave Oliver a shaky smile. "You remember that dinner in Central City with your mom, and she asked me why I dropped out of MIT, and I told her it was because of family reasons?"

He nodded.

"That was the reason. My parents didn't have the money to send her to rehab, and they also didn't have the money to pay for her court and lawyer's fees. They told me they couldn't help me with my tuition anymore, and without their financial help, I couldn't stay. So I went back home."

He made a soft noise of understanding. "That was what they were talking about, when I overheard that conversation at the Mud House, wasn't it? The financial troubles your family ran into?"

Felicity nodded. "After Sara came back from rehab, she decided to enlist in the Army because she thought the discipline would help her stay clean, and we all thought it was good for her because the structure would keep her from reverting back."

She let out a cynical laugh at the thought. How wrong they were.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Oliver stood to get it. Thea walked back in, her phone in her hand and a gentle expression. "I put in a call to our pilot. He'll fly you back to Hertfordshire as soon as we get you to the airport."

She nodded gratefully. Within minutes she was packed, and with Oliver and Thea's help she was checked out of the hotel and on her way to the airport.

Felicity opened her eyes and she was back on the Queen's private jet, which just about as different from a commercial jet as you could be. Instead of orderly rows of cramped seats, there were eight seats total in the front cabin scattered around the wide space with a private bedroom in the back and a full bathroom attached, shower and all.

A few minutes later, the plane took off the runway and Felicity watched out the window as the Star City skyline got smaller and smaller. In the distance she could still see the Queen Consolidated building as it towered over all the other skyscrapers in downtown. But it too eventually turned into a speck on the horizon.

Since it was a private jet, she didn't have to abide by the silly technology rule, so she kept her cell phone within easy reach, waiting every moment for a text message or phone call to come through. She hadn't heard from her sister or her parents since the initial call telling her to come home, but she held out hope that maybe her dad would send a text message saying that it was just a false alarm and that everything was OK.

But even though she held on to that hope, she knew deep in her heart that it was impossible.

* * *

Silence greeted Felicity the moment she crossed the threshold of her house, and it scared the shit out of her.

"Mom? Dad? Laurel?" she called as she walked further. She left her rolling suitcase by the door and turned into the kitchen, looking for any sign of life.

The only person she found was her mother sitting at the kitchen table, pressing a mug of coffee between her palms. Her eyes were rimmed with red, showing that she'd been crying.

"Mom?" she said softly.

Donna looked up from the table and the relief on her face at the sight of her daughter was visible. In an instant, she stood from her chair and rushed to hug her.

"Lissy," she whispered. "Oh, Lissy, I'm so glad you're home."

Felicity's arms automatically went up to hug her back. "Me too."

For a prolonged moment, they stayed like that, clinging to each other like they were all they had left. Then, slowly, Donna released her daughter and sat back down and Felicity took a seat beside her.

"What happened? Where's Dad and Laurel? And Sara?"

"They're at Laurel's office," Donna answered, wiping at her tears. "They're discussing legal stuff."

"Why aren't you there with them?"

"Oh you know me, sweetie, I'm totally useless when it comes to that stuff. It all just goes right over my head. I wanted to wait for you to get home. How did you get home so quick, anyway?"

Felicity shook her head. "It's a long story," she said, waving her hand.

She couldn't spare a moment to think about the fact that she flew on the Queens' private jet just so she could come home for a family emergency. All her spare mental energy had to go to what was happening in Hertfordshire.

"What happened?" she asked.

Donna sighed and took a sip of her coffee. "From what Sara told us, she was out at a friend's house that got a little rowdy. The neighbors called the cops and when they broke up the party, she got searched and was found with heroin on her. She swore up and down that it wasn't hers, but they arrested her and ran a drug test."

Felicity sucked in a breath. "And?"

"It came back positive for narcotics." Donna's eyes welled up with tears. "When her commanding officer found out, they started the discharge paperwork. That's when she called us."

"And when was this?"

"She called us yesterday," she sighed. "We bought her a plane ticket and she came home."

"How is she?"

Donna's eyes started overflowing with the tears she'd been trying to hold onto. "Oh, Lissy," she sobbed. "She won't talk to any of us! She won't say anything! The minute she came home she just ran to the guest room in the basement and locked herself in there, not saying a single word!"

Felicity scooted closer and wrapped an arm around her mother's shoulders. It was like that the last time, she thought bitterly to herself. Sara never had a problem talking when things were fine and stable, but the minute she made a stupid decision and had to face the consequences for it, she'd clam up and not say a word.

Donna rested her head on her daughter's shoulder, and Felicity pressed her cheek on top of her mother's head as she wept.

Half an hour later, the front door slammed open. Quentin and Laurel walked through the door first, but then Felicity caught her first glimpse of her little sister in almost a year.

Ever since they were little, Sara had been one for brighter, bubbly colors to match her more effusive personality. Laurel was the reserved one, Felicity was the quirky one, but Sara — Sara was the outgoing, loud one.

The person that walked through the door, however, was almost the exact opposite of the little step sister Felicity had known for most of her life.

For one thing, she was dressed head to toe in varying shades of gray and black. Her combat boots were a worn black leather. Her yoga pants were a dull and faded gray. Her hoodie was a baggy black thing that hung off her figure in a way that made her seem larger than she was. Even the bags under her eyes matched the overall hue of her appearance.

But all of that was nothing compared to the lifeless expression in her eyes.

"Sara?" Felicity said tentatively as she stood and walked closer to her sister.

The girl herself glanced up but didn't bother to smile.

"Hey, Liss," she greeted. Her voice was hoarse from disuse and it freaked Felicity out — the Sara she knew never shut up.

Without saying a word, Felicity crossed the room and wrapped her arms around her sister's tiny body. It was proof, tangible, physical proof that Sara was still alive, that she was still breathing in and out.

The younger girl returned the hug half-heartedly, like she scarcely had the energy to raise her arms and wrap them around her sister, but Felicity didn't care. She had enough energy for the both of them, as long as she knew that her sister was all right.

Sara was the first to pull away and Felicity respected her wishes by releasing her.

"How are you?" Felicity asked, searching her sister's eyes for any hint of what she wasn't telling everyone else.

"I'm fine," she answered woodenly. "I'm just...tired. I'm going downstairs to rest, OK?"

Without waiting for an answer from anyone, Sara walked around Felicity's stiff figure and headed down to the basement, slamming the door to the stairs behind her.

Quentin sighed and rubbed his hands over his eyes. It was his tell, the way he showed his exhaustion. Laurel, beside him, seemed equally exhausted.

"So, what's going to happen now?" Donna asked.

"We don't know for sure yet," Laurel admitted. "Since she's already got a drug arrest on her record, the consequences are probably going to be more severe this time around."

Felicity let out a breath, trying to wrap her mind around everything that happened in the past twelve hours. It was almost hard to believe that she woke up this morning in Star City, looking forward to a relatively stress-free day.

"What about Sara? How is she? Has she said _anything_?" Donna asked.

"No," Quentin answered. "She just asked a couple of questions, but then she kept quiet. Hasn't said a word."

That was what frustrated Felicity the most. In all the time she'd known Sara, she never seemed to shut up. She talked nonstop all the time, whether it was in her best interest or not. Yet here she was, in a situation where they _needed_ her to talk, _for once_. The one time she maintained her silence was the time it was the least convenient for all of them.

Donna let out a breath. "Well. I have to get to work."

"Go," Quentin said as he pecked her on the temple. "I'll call you if anything comes up."

She nodded. Then she wrapped her hands around Laurel's and Felicity's arms in a reassuring gesture before picking up her purse and walking out the door.

The three remaining family members trekked toward the dining room table. The minute Quentin's butt hit the chair, he let out a monumental groan that made Felicity reach forward to put her hand in her father's.

"So what's next?" Felicity asked.

"We're in a holding pattern for now," Laurel answered. "Sara's got a pretrial hearing in Colorado that she's got to go to, and that's in two months. We won't know anything for sure until after that."

"She's going to go to trial?" Felicity demanded in alarm.

"Don't worry," Laurel said soothingly. "This is routine. Anyone who's charged with a felony has a series of pretrial hearings. They have multiple opportunities to avoid trial between now and then. Things might be a little different in Colorado, but what will most likely happen is she'll plead out in exchange for a lesser charge or a lesser sentence."

"Like what? What are some of the outcomes here?"

Laurel took in a deep breath. "The worst case scenario, she's looking at five years."

It was like someone had sucked all the air out of the room. Five _years_. Sara could go to prison for _five years_.

The thought made Felicity want to throw up.

"That's just the worst case scenario," Quentin said tiredly. "We've still got a few steps between here and there. We might be able to avoid prison time altogether. At the moment, we're working on trying to find her a decent lawyer who can negotiate a deal that avoids prison time."

"Will it work?"

"I think it could," Laurel said. "I know as a prosecutor, I'd probably take a look at a case like this and offer a reduced charge. Send her to rehab again, assign her some community service. She was a soldier who fell in with the wrong crowd, she served her country, she saw some stuff while she was deployed, she needed a way to cope and she turned down a bad but familiar path, et cetera."

"Does that mean you're going to be her lawyer?"

Laurel shook her head. "I can't."

"Why not?" Felicity demanded.

"First of all, I'm not a member of the Colorado bar," she answered. "Second of all, I'm a prosecutor. I'm an ADA. I don't have any experience as a defense attorney."

Felicity felt the beginnings of a pit of despair forming in her stomach. A lawyer was going to cost a lot of money. And flying back and forth from Hertfordshire to Colorado wasn't going to be cheap either. The last time Sara was arrested, it took all the money Quentin and Donna had saved up for both Sara and Felicity's college tuition to pay off the legal fees and for rehab.

Now, with no savings to fall back on, how were they going to pay for all of this?

She glanced up at her father and she could tell that all the same thoughts were running through his mind. It was there in the worry written all over his face. Felicity wanted to reach over and reassure him, but she didn't know how.

Eventually, Quentin's stomach let forth an inhuman growl, so Felicity got up and reheated some leftovers Donna brought home from work. The three of them ate in silence, drowning in their own thoughts.

Felicity looked down into her water glass, as if it might have the answer to all the questions she turned over and over in her head. Just yesterday her future and her family's future seemed so clear, but now it was muddy and clouded.

It was a terrifying thought.

* * *

The next few days were tense ones for the Smoak-Lance household. Laurel and Quentin spent most of their free time working on trying to get Sara out of trouble while Donna spent most of her free time taking care of the two of them. Sara, on the other hand, remained locked in the basement, avoiding her family and anyone else who wanted to talk to her.

In the meantime, Felicity went back to work and tried to pretend like everything was all right. Friends and town members would ask her about Sara and what she was doing home, and she would just smile in response and say something vague about her sister being home on leave.

About a week after Sara came home, Felicity woke up in the middle of the night in search for a glass of water. She snuck down the stairs as quietly as she could so she wouldn't wake up anyone else in the house, but as she crept to the kitchen, she could hear the distinct sounds of her mother and father talking in hushed voices.

"There's no way we can do it, sweetheart." Quentin sounded defeated, like he'd just watched his favorite boxer go ten rounds and ultimately lose. "We can't afford it."

"But we can't let her go to jail," Donna's voice insisted. "We can't! Not after everything she's already been through!"

"I know," he continued. "But she's the best lawyer in the area for this kind of thing, and her rates are too high. We can't pay for it. We're already looking at all the court fees and the airfare back and forth...it's too much."

Felicity felt the bottom of her stomach drop out. This was just as she feared — Sara's legal case was going to bankrupt her parents, and she was going to have to go to jail anyway.

Without making a peep, she turned around and crept back up the stairs to her bedroom. Once she had closed the door, she threw herself onto her bed in pure misery. She wanted to cry and scream, she wanted to punch something — she was so overcome with emotion that she didn't know how to let it out.

Her parents...her poor parents. All they'd ever done was try to look out for their girls, but now here they were, hamstrung by shitty circumstances and terrible decisions made by their youngest daughter. And for the second time in five years, they found themselves staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.

Deep down, she already knew the solution. She knew what she could do to help her sister avoid jail and help her parents avoid going into debt to do it. But doing so meant she'd once again be stuck in Hertfordshire for another year — maybe even longer. Maybe she'd get stuck there forever.

And the more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she focused all her anger on one person: Sara.

It was all Sara's fault. Sara had once again fucked up and it was once again up to her family to bail her out of the shitty situation she landed herself in.

The next day, everyone else in the house went to work, leaving Felicity alone with Sara barricading herself in the basement again. Once they were all gone, Felicity marched down to the basement to finally confront her taciturn sister.

When she walked down there, she found her sister draped over the couch, covered in an old quilt and wearing the same hoodie she wore when she first saw her. She looked even grayer now, colorless from locking herself away from the sunlight and refusing to interact with anyone in the family.

But her appearance did nothing to quell Felicity's anger. Instead, it only stoked the fire.

"I need to talk to you," she declared, her arms crossed as she stared down at Sara.

The younger girl made no notice that she'd heard Felicity, much less acknowledged her presence. She just continued to lay there, her eyes staring up at the ceiling.

But Felicity didn't let Sara's silence stop her.

"Mom and Dad have been trying to figure out how to help you avoid going to jail. They're saying there's only one lawyer in Colorado who can really help, but she's too expensive."

Sara didn't move.

"Here's the thing: I've got some money saved up. I was saving it so I could move out to a bigger city to find a better job, but I think it would be enough pay for your lawyer."

Again, Sara said nothing, and it made Felicity furious.

"So?" she demanded. "Do you want my help or not?"

Sara let out a breath. "Do what you want," she muttered. "I don't care."

"What do you mean you don't care?" Felicity demanded. "You could go to _jail_."

Sara rolled her eyes, and that was when Felicity lost it.

"I can't believe you," Felicity bit out. "Don't you get it? Don't you see that you could be going to _jail_? Laurel said you're looking at five years! _Five years_ in prison, Sara! And Mom and Dad are wracking their brains and busting their butts looking for a way to keep you out of prison. They might have to go into debt to do it. They might have to go bankrupt, and still you don't give a shit. Then here I am, the sister you've already screwed over once before, giving you a fucking out! And you still don't give a shit!"

Sara huffed out an annoyed breath. "Fuck off," she muttered. "I didn't ask for your help. I don't need your help."

"Obviously you do, otherwise you wouldn't be in this situation!"

Suddenly Sara sat up on the couch, glaring back her with a fire reminiscent of the woman she was before all of this happened. It almost made Felicity take a step back.

"Shut up!" Sara screamed. Tears started forming in her eyes. "Just shut your fucking face! Can you for once, in your FUCKING LIFE stop being such a sanctimonious _bitch_ and leave me the fuck alone? I fucking hate you, just leave me alone!"

Felicity felt her own eyes welling up, but she held tight to her tears. She refused to let her sister see how much her words stung.

"You fucking selfish brat," she spat. "You know what? I hope you _do_ go to jail and I hope you rot in their for everything you've done to this family!"

Sara let out a sardonic laugh that sounded so completely wrong coming out of her.

"Oh please, Felicity. Don't act like you're so fucking concerned for our family! You've always been the uppity bitch who was too good to live in Hertfordshire! Ever since we were little kids, all you ever talked about was getting out of here! You were _too smart_ , _too talented_ , _too perfect_ to live in this fucking hick town! The only reason you're angry about any of this is that you'll have to give up your savings and stay here longer! You don't give a shit about me!"

Felicity's balled her fists, pretending like she was clutching tight to her tears. Sara had always been the one to cut hard and deep in a fight, and this was no different.

" _You're_ the one who doesn't give a shit about this family!" Felicity retorted. "If you did, you wouldn't have relapsed and gotten yourself arrested, gotten yourself kicked out of the Army!"

The tears started flowing freely down Sara's face, but she didn't look away. "Yeah, and I bet you were just _thrilled_ when you found out, weren't you?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about _you_ , and your pathological need to be better than me and one up me every chance you get!"

That made Felicity roll her eyes. "You're delusional."

"No I'm not! That's your M.O., Felicity! You always, _always_ had to be the smarter one! You had to be the best at everything, and you couldn't ever handle it when someone else was smarter or better than you! And when you beat me at something, you took our parents' attention away from me and rubbed it in my face."

"That is not true!"

"Yes it is! You spent our entire childhood making me feel like shit for not being as smart as you! You _always_ looked down on me because I wasn't in the same accelerated classes or because I only got a C in math! And then when we got older you made me feel like shit whenever I made a bad decision! You wouldn't talk to me for a week after the accident because Mom and Dad had to use _your_ tuition money to pay for my rehab!"

"Your shitty decisions were the reason I had to drop out of MIT!" Felicity shouted. "What did you want from me, a fucking pat on the back?"

"No!" Sara screamed. "What I wanted from you was _support_! I had just been in an accident, an accident that almost _killed_ me and three of my friends, and the minute you came home from Cambridge, you just glared at me like I ruined _your_ fucking life! I was already feeling like shit, and you just twisted the knife! You made me _wish_ I had died in that accident!"

That shocked Felicity into silence, but Sara kept going. The tears were flowing freely now, and she didn't do anything to stop them from trailing down her face.

"All my life, all I wanted was for you to treat me like a sister. For you to love me like you loved Laurel, and I thought that once, maybe just _once_ , you'd finally put aside whatever superiority complex you had and be there for me when I needed you. But no, you just made me feel even worse. Nothing I ever did would be good enough to impress the great Felicity Smoak."

Sara's words rooted Felicity to her spot. Even if she wanted to escape, she couldn't. She couldn't move as Sara hurled her accusations, slicing through her with every word.

"So you know what? I stopped trying. I just gave up. Because you were never going to see me like an equal. You were always going to look down at me, because I was your dumb baby sister who couldn't do anything right."

This was a pain worse than anything else Sara had thrown at her. It was like she shooting arrow after arrow right into her heart, but there was nothing she could say or even do to make it stop or make it better.

Felicity unclenched her fists and the tears started rolling down her cheeks. And that's when Sara delivered the fatal blow.

"So Felicity," she shot, in a voice shaking with venom, "let's not pretend like you're making this sacrifice for me. Because we both know that you don't give a shit about anyone but yourself."

* * *

The minute Sara had finished yelling at her, Felicity fled the house. It left her shaking and unsure and in desperate need to be as far away from any living and breathing soul as possible. Even though it was early March and freezing, she escaped to the secluded corner of the beach where teens went after school to get high.

When she was sure no one was around, she collapsed onto a rock overlooking the beach and released her tears. Her sister, her own little sister, thought she hated her, and even though it wasn't true, she couldn't point to a single instance in their life where should definitively refute what Sara had said.

Was this her fault? Was she the reason Sara ventured down this path? How could it have changed if she'd just been more available, more open and honest about her feelings with her sister?

Ten minutes into her solitude, Felicity felt a buzz in her pocket. Without bothering to look at the caller ID, she swiped to answer.

"Hello?" she answered in a shaky voice.

A pause. Then, "Felicity?"

She quickly swiped at her tears. "Who is this?"

"It's Oliver Queen."

Her shock pushed aside all other emotions for a moment. "Oh. Hi, Oliver."

"Is this a bad time?"

Yes, she thought. She wiped again at her eyes and nose, happy that he wasn't physically there to see her in this state. "No, not at all," she said brightly, hoping like hell he couldn't hear the tears in her voice. "How can I help you?"

"Well," he began, "I've talked it over with the management, and I wanted to formally offer you the position here at Unidac."

Felicity's widened. Oh God, she thought. Her time in Star City interviewing for the position at Unidac felt like it happened ages ago. She had completely forgotten about it all.

Everything had changed on a dime. A week ago, she would have said yes without even thinking twice. But now...now there was no way.

"I...I'd really, really like to," she began haltingly. "You have no idea. But I...I can't."

There was a long silence on the other end. Then, "Felicity, if this is because of what I said in Central City, I — "

"No, it's not that," she interrupted, tears welling up in her eyes. "It's not that at all, I just…" She took in a deep breath. "I don't have the money right now to move to a new city and...there are things going on here at home that I need to be here for."

She squeezed her eyes closed as she thought about it. God, the stupid irony of it all. Just when she was inches away from finally getting out of Hertfordshire and moving to her dream city for her dream job, she once again found herself trapped here because of a shitty set of unforeseen circumstances.

"Felicity, are you OK?"

Maybe it was something about the baritone in his voice or the way he said her name and injected every word with genuine concern, but his question undid her. The tenuous hold she kept on her emotions broke and she let out a tiny, keening wail.

"My sister," she sobbed. "It's my sister. She's in trouble and she won't let me help her because she thinks I hate her and _nothing_ could be further from the truth, but I don't know how to fix it and it's my fault and I just don't know what to do!"

And with that, it all came pouring out of her. She told him about everything that happened since she came home, all the legal and financial troubles her parents were running into, how she tried to solve the problem by offering her savings, and how she and Sara traded barb after barb.

"I don't know how to fix this, Oliver," she wept. "She's my sister. My baby sister. I love her so much, but I don't know what to do."

"I know," he finally said.

There was such deep empathy and understanding in his voice. It made her wish he was there with her. She wanted his physical presence, one that seemed so strong and steady. It was a presence she once detested for its robotic solidness but now craved for its stability.

She sniffed. "How did you do it?" she asked. "When Thea got into trouble, what did you do?"

He took in a breath. "Well," he began, "We all went to a therapist, and we figured out that Thea was acting out because she felt trapped in her lifestyle. It was so structured and rigid, from school to music classes and all of that, and she never got to spend any time with Mom or me. So I started trying to spend more time with her. I started easy, with board games like Monopoly and Candyland. Then we started spending whole weekends together. Now we have a set time every week where we go to lunch and talk."

"And it worked?"

"Yeah," Oliver answered. "She wanted my attention. She wanted just to spend time with me, so I gave her that and I continue to try and give her that."

"So if I start playing Candyland with Sara, she'll get better?"

"Maybe," he said. "You have to identify what she needs first. If she needs more time with you, then find a way to spend time with her. Maybe it's Candyland, maybe it's something else. Let her take the lead and let her show you. She knows what she needs better than you do."

Felicity wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. The rational side of her brain, the part she valued more than anything, clinged to his advice like a life raft. This was good, she thought. These were concrete things she could do to help.

"Thank you," she whispered. Then she let out a small laugh. "Wow, I can't believe I just unloaded all of that on you. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," he answered. "I'm glad you confided in me."

She felt her heart thump in her chest, and she felt herself once again yearning for his presence.

"I'm sorry I can't take the job," she murmured. "I really want to. But I can't."

"I understand," he said. "I wish you and your family all the best. And don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."

She nodded, then remembered she was on the phone and he couldn't see her. "Right. Thank you. For everything — for your advice and your well wishes and...and for getting me back home so quickly the other day. You were like my knight in shining armor."

"I just wish I could have done more."

Her heart cracked at his words. "You've done so much already."

A pause stretched out, long enough to fill up the hundreds of miles between them. It was a heavy silence, filled with so many wishes and almosts that Felicity felt like she was drowning in them.

"Well then," he said finally. "Take care, Felicity."

Tears stung the back of her eyes. It sounded so final, like they knew they'd both never see or talk to one another ever again.

In that instant, she wished she could take back all the times she wished she'd never have to talk to Oliver ever again just for a chance to know that it wouldn't be the last time.

"You too, Oliver," she whispered. "Goodbye."


	10. Chapter 10

It was one thing for Felicity to know what she wanted to do to help Sara.

It was something entirely different to follow through with it.

Truth be told, Felicity was still incredibly hurt by Sara's words, no matter how guilty she felt about things she did in the past. It was going to take at least a little bit of time to try and move past that.

The weeks moved by slowly as the family came to terms with the new reality. Just as it had the first time, everyone started reorganizing their lives around Sara. Laurel acted as her informal legal adviser while Quentin and Donna both rearranged their schedules around their daughter's therapy. Felicity, in the meantime, was the one who acted as moral support, keeping them fed and hydrated because they were all seemingly too distracted to do it themselves.

Sara, on the other hand, remained isolated. She only left the basement for meals and her therapy sessions, and she refused to talk to anyone for any period that was longer than necessary.

It was the status quo for weeks until one day, Felicity couldn't take it anymore. The atmosphere in the house grew more and more toxic and it was making it unbearable to live there.

Putting aside her hurt, she waited once again until everyone else in the family had left the house for work. When they were all gone, she marched down to the basement to talk to her sister.

This time, however, she was wearing her armor.

Felicity found her sister once again draped over the couch, staring listlessly at the ceiling. It made her want to roll her eyes.

"Get up," she declared.

Sara turned her head slowly to stare at her sister. Then she turned her head back, like Felicity hadn't said anything at all.

"Sara," Felicity said firmly, "I said get up."

"Go away, Felicity," she answered in an exhausted voice.

"No, not this time. Get up."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to get up," she repeated. "We're going to somewhere, and that would require you to get off the couch and follow me."

"I don't want to go anywhere. Not with you."

"Sara, I swear to God if you don't get your lazy ass off that couch, I will handcuff your wrist to mine and drag you out of this house if I have to."

The younger woman made a huge show of rolling her eyes before pushing the blanket off her body and swinging her legs off the couch to stand up. "There, are you happy?"

"No, but I will be," Felicity shot back. Then she threw a pair of jeans and a T-shirt at her sister. "Get dressed and meet me upstairs. We're going to take a hike."

Sara looked down skeptically at the clothes in her arms. "You're not going to push me off a cliff and into a pool or something, are you?"

"Damn, you've figured out my evil plan," Felicity deadpanned. "Hurry up and get changed!"

Ten minutes later, Sara was finally dressed and they were walking out the door. It was the first time the younger sister had been out of the house for an extended period of time, so she immediately brought her hand to shade her eyes from the offending sunlight.

"Why did you bring me out here?" she whined. "What do you want?"

"I realized that we haven't spent a lot of time together," Felicity said. "And I wanted to fix that."

"We didn't have to leave the house to do that," Sara grumbled.

"Yeah, but staying in the house wasn't what I had in mind."

The two sisters walked through the town, Felicity with determination and Sara with reluctance. After an almost forty-five minute long trek, they finally reached their destination.

Sara stared at the sign in incredulity. "Are you kidding? You brought me all the way out to the animal shelter?"

"Yep," Felicity replied.

"Why?"

"Because, I volunteered us both. We're going to spend the day washing the dogs, cleaning out kennels and playing fetch."

Then, before giving her sister the chance to talk herself out of it, Felicity grabbed Sara's hand and dragged her toward the door. They greeted the two women on call, signed in on the volunteer sheet and were immediately put to work in the dog kennels.

For the next six hours, Felicity and Sara worked nonstop. They cleared all the dog kennels of poop and urine. They took turns washing the dogs and spraying them down until they were completely clean. It was during this time Felicity saw her little sister gradually emerge from the shell she'd forced herself into until she was even smiling and laughing when a particularly energetic yellow lab mix shook out her massive body, spraying the both of them with the excess water.

And after all of that, they dragged their exhausted bodies out into the back field where they tossed around ball after ball for the dogs to chase after and bring back, wagging their tails with excitement each time they trotted back.

It was during the play time the two sisters finally got the chance to talk.

"Why did you bring me here?" Sara asked as she threw a small tennis ball for her collie to fetch.

"I told you, I volunteered us," Felicity answered. "I wanted to spend time with you."

"I know, but why the animal shelter?"

Felicity shrugged. "I don't know, honestly. I was at the coffee shop the other day and there were workers there looking for volunteers to sign up. So I signed us up. At that point I was looking for any excuse to get you out of the basement."

The two sisters were quiet for a beat as they threw ball after ball for their dogs. Finally, after ten minutes of silence, Sara spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Felicity didn't look over. "For what?"

"For what I said the other day. When you offered to pay for my lawyer and stuff."

"I know. It's OK."

Silence descended again, and Felicity didn't bother filling it. This was her following Oliver's advice — she was waiting for Sara to show her what she needed.

"I just felt like I fucked up again," Sara continued. "I made a huge mistake and you had to bail me out. Again. And I couldn't take the guilt so…"

"So you lashed out at me."

Felicity saw Sara's shoulders slump a little out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah," the younger girl whispered.

Felicity nodded. "Well, I'm sorry too," she confessed. "I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like I didn't love you. Because I really do, Sara."

There was a brief pause, and Felicity saw her little sister make a quick swipe at her face, like she was trying to wipe away a tear before it landed.

"I know," she finally answered. "I love you, too."

When their shift was over, Felicity and Sara both signed out and waved goodbye to the animal shelter workers. The walk home was much less silent. While Sara wasn't back to her normal, talkative self, she at least was willing to answer when Felicity had questions, and by the time they got home, the air between them felt lighter.

Two days later, Felicity once again dragged Sara out of the house to the animal shelter where they did the same thing. And she did it again and again and again until one day, Sara emerged from the basement of her own volition, dressed and ready to go.

And little changes started from there. First, Sara started voluntarily spending more time out of the basement. Then she started leaving the house. Almost a month later, she was going to the coffee shop with Laurel and Felicity and Iris every Saturday morning and even contributing to the conversation.

Eventually, Sara started followed Felicity around in all her different jobs, so much so that she was almost an unofficial employee at the bookstore. One rainy Wednesday afternoon, Sara was sitting on the counter at the while Felicity was counting through a new shipment of best sellers. They were chatting and giggling over some of the more ridiculous titles when the door opened and the little bell rang, indicating someone had just walked in.

"Welcome to Beachfront Books," Sara called out without even glancing over.

"Thank you," a distant voice answered. The tone of it danced on the edge of Felicity's recognition and she glanced up in surprise to find none other than Moira Queen standing in the middle of the tiny store, in all her billionaire glory.

"Can we help you?" Sara asked in her polite voice.

"I was hoping to speak to Felicity over there," Moira said, looking straight past Sara and boring right into Felicity's eyes with her laser-like focus.

"Oh," Sara blinked. "Sure thing. Would you like some privacy or…?"

"Yes that would be very helpful, thank you."

Sara nodded. "You got it." She shot her sister a questioning look before hopping off the counter and disappearing through the back room.

Felicity stood from the little stool she was sitting on and unconsciously started straightening out her clothes. "Moira," she greeted. "What brings you here to Hertfordshire?"

"You, actually," she answered. "My son tells me he offered you a position at Unidac Industries, but you declined."

Well she certainly didn't waste any time getting to the point.

"I did," Felicity nodded, her cheeks turning crimson. "A family emergency came up. It's impossible for me to leave right now."

"Your family seems to run into a lot of emergencies," Moira noted coolly. "First it kept you from graduating MIT, now it's keeping you from working with my son."

Felicity's eyes narrowed at the accusatory tone in the older woman's voice. "Well family is important to me," she answered, resentment coloring her words. "I'm sure you can understand."

Moira just hummed her agreement, her lips still pursed like she was regarding an interesting insect at an exhibit.

"Surely you didn't come all this way just to ask me why I didn't take the job," Felicity pressed on.

"I did indeed. Because the thing is, Felicity, I can't understand why a seemingly brilliant woman such as yourself would turn down such a wonderful opportunity to work with our company unless it was because you're fielding competitive offers. And seeing as how you're still working in this bookstore, I have to wonder what exactly is going on."

"I told you," Felicity bit out, her patience swiftly waning, "I turned down the offer because of a family emergency."

Moria waved away that excuse like it was nothing. "Ridiculous. Emergencies are temporary — eventually they will fade. I think you turned it down because you're scared."

"Excuse me?" Felicity demanded. "Scared? Scared of what?"

"Scared to finally move out of this town and make something of yourself," Moira shot back. "You've gotten comfortable here, being the smartest girl for miles. Everywhere you go people look to you because you're the one who knows everything. But the minute you leave this place and start working somewhere else, you're just another smart kid in a room full of former valedictorians. You don't want to stop being special, so you find excuse after excuse to stay."

Fury lit a fire in Felicity's belly. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," she spat.

Moira continued on like she hadn't heard her. "You know, my son went to bat for you. I was skeptical about bringing you on, but he swore up and down that you were the one for this job. He went on and on about how you were special, that you were a smart bet. So imagine our great surprise when you turn it down to stay here, working in a bookstore."

The fire inside Felicity grew and grew until she could hardly breathe. She tried to tamp it down and retain even a modicum of civility in her presence, but it got harder and harder.

"Mrs. Queen, I turned down your son's offer at Unidac because my family needs me here at the moment," she said in as even a tone as she could. "You can refuse to believe that if you want, but it is the truth. I'm working in this bookstore because it's a good place to work and it's near my family."

"Ms. Smoak, I was led to believe that you are an intelligent person," she shot back. "But to hear of you turning down this once in a lifetime opportunity makes me rethink that assessment."

Felicity sucked in a deep breath. It seemed like the Queens would forever be questioning her intelligence.

"I am a smart person," she said slowly. "But I'm also a compassionate person. I'm a person who is there when my friends and family need me. Right now my family needs me. My _sister_ needs me. I'm not going to abandon her when she needs me most."

Moira shook her head. "You are being extraordinarily foolish right now. You're not seeing the bigger picture, and you're not thinking about what's best for yourself."

"Why does it matter to you?" she demanded. "If I'm really being so foolish then why are you taking it so personally?"

"Because you remind me of me," Moira answered grimly.

That made Felicity's mouth snap shut.

"Many years ago, I took a vacation here for the summer and I fell in love," she began, her voice and tone much softer than it had been. "But it wasn't meant to be — being with him meant staying here forever, and that wasn't what was best for either of us. So as painful as it was, I let him go and I moved on. Now I'm the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company. I have two beautiful children. None of that would have happened if I stayed here."

Felicity blinked in surprise, as Moira divulged all this. The Queen matriarch was being pushy and overbearing because...because she liked her?

"You can't stay here, Felicity," she insisted. "You're not fulfilling your potential, and you have so much of it. Everyone can see that."

Felicity closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I know. And I won't. But Moira, please, listen to me — if one of your kids was in trouble, wouldn't you do anything within your power to make it all right?"

Moira's eyes were tight, but she nodded.

"That's what this is for me," Felicity explained. "It's not like I'm staying here for a man — I'm staying here for my family. I'm not saying that I'm going to stay here forever. I'm just saying that right now, my family is my priority."

The older woman still didn't look happy, but she looked like she had at least accepted Felicity's decision.

"Very well," she said stiffly. Then she walked forward and in a surprise move took both of Felicity's hands in her own. "But you promise me this, Felicity Smoak: you _promise_ me that you will not let your talent and your intelligence go to waste."

Fire burned in Moira's eyes, sending scorching shivers all through Felicity's veins.

"I promise."

"Good."

And with that, Moira let Felicity's hands drop, turned on her heel and swept out of the bookstore. It left Felicity in a bit of a daze — it was next to impossible to believe that Moira Queen herself stood in this tiny room seconds before to yell at her for turning down a job offer.

A few minutes after Moira left, Sara peeked her head in through the door.

"Felicity?" the younger girl asked cautiously. "What was that?"

"I'm not entirely sure," she admitted.

Sara looked down before continuing her question. "Did you really turn down that job offer?" she whispered.

Felicity whipped her head around so fast to stare at her sister and much to her horror, she could see the guilt all over her sad face. "Sara," she whispered. "Don't worry about it."

"You shouldn't have," she murmured. "You should have taken it. You shouldn't have let me get in the way again."

"Sara," Felicity repeated firmly. "Stop. I didn't take the job offer because _I_ wanted to stay. I wanted to be here for you. You're my sister, and I love you, and I want to be here for you."

Sara's eyes started to well up a little. "Felicity," she whispered. "I feel like you keep putting your life on hold for me. And you shouldn't. You should go out there and live your life."

Felicity's heart tore a little, and without saying a word, she stepped forward and enveloped her little sister in her arms. "You are my family, and my family is a huge part of my life. I'm not putting anything on hold. I'm staying because _I_ want to be here. I want to help you. No one is making me stay, least of all you."

Sara chuckled wryly, the sound muffled in Felicity's shoulder and it brought a smile to her face.

* * *

The rest of the winter and the early part of spring passed in relative quiet. Sara's case was moving slowly through the Colorado court system, which gave them time to come up with a game plan. After much arguing, Quentin and Donna both reluctantly agreed to use Felicity's savings to pay for Sara's lawyer, and Felicity went back to working at the bookstore and doing various other odd jobs around town to build up her savings once more.

All in all, life for the Donna-Smoaks was as quiet as it could ever be. That was, until early May, when Sara started getting phone calls from a mysterious number. At first she ignored it, but when the same unrecognized number kept popping up on her caller ID, she eventually gave in and answered.

The result of the conversation surprised everyone in the family.

The minute she hung up the phone, she emerged from the basement, a dazed and disbelieving look in her eyes. Felicity, who was sitting in the living room reading a magazine, eyed her sister with concern.

"Sara?" she asked. "Sara, what's the matter?"

Sara didn't say anything. She just walked toward her sister and plopped herself down on the couch next to her.

"Sara, come on," Felicity said uneasily. "You're really freaking me out here."

"That was a call from McKenna Hall. She's a hotshot defense lawyer in Colorado."

Felicity raised her eyebrows. "Is that the same lawyer that Dad and Laurel have been trying to take your case?"

Sara shook her head. "No. She's even better. She's never lost a case. She defended that one asshole teen who killed a family of four in a drunk driving accident and got him off with the 'affluenza' defense."

Felicity grimaced. "What is she doing, calling you?"

"She said she wants to take my case."

Felicity's jaw dropped. "You're kidding."

"It's what she said. She's emailing me the contract later today."

Felicity started to feel something akin to panic. If the lawyer Dad and Laurel wanted for Sara was expensive, God only knew how expensive this McKenna woman would be. And yeah, she had a lot in savings, but it probably wasn't _nearly_ enough to pay for a defense attorney who's never lost.

"We're going to have to talk to Dad and Laurel," she said, immediately trying to calculate it in her mind. "See if we can't negotiate her fee or something."

Sara shook her head mechanically. "That's the weirdest part, Lissy. She's doing this pro bono."

That made Felicity pause and her eyes widen. "What?" she demanded.

"She wants to take on my case for free. Said an old friend called in a favor, and my case was so straightforward that she could win it in her sleep."

Felicity could hardly wrap her mind around it. A hotshot lawyer in Colorado was willing to take on her sister's case for _free_?

No. No way. There had to be a catch.

Quentin agreed. When Sara told him about it, his lips pursed and his eyes narrowed in pure skepticism.

"Are you sure about this?" he demanded. "This sounds like some kind of elaborate trick."

Sara was far too happy and excited about it to see how too-good-to-be-true it sounded. For her, it was a chance to secure a good lawyer to get her to avoid jail time _and_ let her sister off the hook for having to pay for it all.

"Why would someone want to go to all this trouble to trick me?" she asked.

"That's _my_ question," he insisted stubbornly. "You didn't piss anyone off while you were over there, did you?"

"Dad," she scoffed. "That's ridiculous."

"Sara, you have to see that this sounds a little suspicious," Felicity said.

"No it's not," Sara argued. "McKenna meant it! She wants to help me, and she wants to do it for free! Why are you guys so convinced that this is a bad thing? Felicity, I thought _you_ of all people would think this is great!"

She did think it was great. That was the problem. Felicity didn't want to get her hopes up only to have them come crashing down once again because it had been a ruse they had been too optimistic to see coming.

That night, Felicity pulled out her laptop and did a very basic search for McKenna Hall. It turned out, Sara _had_ been telling the truth about the woman's record. She had never lost a case that went to trial, and all of her clients got very lenient sentences.

When Felicity did a deeper search, she found out other things — for example, McKenna got her undergrad in criminal justice at Michigan. Then she went to law school in Star City…

...where she had a brief relationship with none other than Oliver Queen.

Felicity felt her fingertips go cold when she read that. McKenna knew Oliver. They even dated.

What if…?

No, she immediately thought to herself. There was no way she was going to let her imagination run away with itself. McKenna's connection to Oliver Queen was nothing more than a coincidence. They clearly ran in very powerful circles, and people who ran in powerful circles all seemed to know one another.

She closed her laptop and put it away, determined to stop thinking about Oliver Queen and McKenna Hall.

And she succeeded for a little while. She spent the rest of her evening working on a fried laptop someone at City Hall paid her to fix up. The work had sufficiently kept her thoughts occupied so that when it was time to turn in, she only thought of ways she hadn't tried yet to make the computer work again.

But when she slid under her comforter and closed her eyes, her thoughts unwillingly traveled down the same path she wanted to avoid.

Was it possible? she thought timidly to herself. Was it possible that Oliver Queen had called in a favor to an old friend? Asked that McKenna take this case?

No, was the first answer. That was absurd. Absolutely absurd. Sara was no one to him, so why would he go to all the trouble? The only reason he would was as a favor to _her_ , and Felicity was sure that she was the last person Oliver Queen would ever want to do a favor for.

But was that still true? Sure, she turned him down when he asked her out, and she turned him down just about as viciously as anyone had ever been turned down before. However, that didn't stop him from being the most perfect gentleman when she went to that interview at Unidac Industries. That didn't stop him from treating her with kindness, even when she didn't deserve it. That didn't stop him from being so understanding, from listening to her as she cried about her problems.

Felicity shook her head. No, he was just being a decent human being. Decent human beings were courteous to prospective employees and they listened to people when they cried instead of turning them away. She knew now that Oliver Queen was just a good guy, perhaps even a _great_ guy, if all those stories Curtis told about him were true.

But being a great guy didn't mean that he was the one to do this.

Still, she sighed to herself as she turned over in her bed — she would have loved it if Oliver Queen _had_ called in a favor and arranged the whole thing. Because maybe, just maybe, it would have meant that he still had feelings for her.

And maybe, just maybe, she had feelings for him as well.


	11. Chapter 11

That next weekend, Laurel, Quentin and Sara took a trip out to Colorado to meet McKenna and suss out whether she was serious about taking Sara on as a client for free. Despite Sara's insistence, everyone else in the family still wasn't quite sure.

By the time they returned, however, they were all thoroughly convinced. From that weekend on, Quentin spoke of McKenna in almost a reverent tone that freaked Felicity out and made Donna roll her eyes every time.

But despite their assurances, the question still remained: Why?

Why was such a prestigious lawyer taking on a relatively minor drug charge for free? It wasn't like Sara's case was even all that much of a challenge.

Sara and Quentin had asked McKenna several times, but McKenna dodged the question each time until finally she told them that she had taken on the case as a favor to a friend and that was all she could say about it.

When Sara told her about it later, Felicity's cheeks turned bright red and her stomach started twisting itself in knots.

Well, that certainly confirmed it.

But while the answer was pretty clear for her, the rest of the family was still confused. Sara didn't have any mutual friends with McKenna — their social circles were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

Felicity debated telling her family just who exactly was behind their stroke of good luck. On the one hand, she should have told them so they could feel properly grateful about it. But on the other hand, she'd have to dive into the whole explanation, and the story didn't exactly paint her in the best light.

"I just don't get it," Laurel said for the millionth time at coffee and doughnuts with Iris and Felicity. Sara was volunteering at the animal shelter, which had grown more and more dependent on her. It was just as well — she needed to start getting her community service hours in anyway.

"I don't either," Iris confessed. "I mean, not like it's not awesome or anything, but it's just...so _weird_ , right?"

Felicity didn't say anything. She just sat in her seat, staring at her coffee, paralyzed by their musings. It would have been so easy — all she had to do was open her mouth and explain. Explain it from the beginning. Explain the whole, sordid tale that ended in the most frustrating way possible.

But her lips stayed closed, and she continued to sit there, listening in tortured silence as her friends continued to muse aloud.

When coffee was over, Felicity spent the whole walk to the bookstore silently beating herself up. Why couldn't she just tell them? Sure, the story made her look like an insensitive shrew, but if anyone would understand, wouldn't it be her best friend and her sister?

In the end, she didn't say anything. She chose to keep it a secret, partly because it wasn't entirely her story to tell. She shared it with Oliver. It was his story, too.

Until he consented to have it told, she'd keep it locked behind her lips.

The problem was, she was almost certain she'd never see him again. She'd never get his consent to tell it.

She was going to have to take this secret with her to the grave.

* * *

Several things happened in very quick succession.

The first thing was that McKenna managed to negotiate a deal for Sara. In exchange for a guilty plea to lesser charges, Sara agreed to undergo mandatory counseling and rehab that could be done outside of Colorado. She was also put on probation and had to complete a buch of community service hours, and every week her probation officer had to administer a drug test.

The big take away for the whole family was that Sara _wasn't_ going to jail, and that was the most they could ask for.

The second thing that happened was much less predictable and made Felicity's blood pressure jump the moment she heard about it.

"Felicity!"

Everyone in the bookstore jumped at Iris' screech. The woman in question raised an eyebrow as her best friend barreled through the narrow aisles of bookshelves to get to her.

Sara was behind the counter with Felicity, helping with inventory. She popped her head up in curiosity.

"Felicity, did you hear?" Iris demanded.

She rolled her eyes in response. "Iris, we've been over this. _You're_ the reporter, remember? You're always the one who hears everything before I do."

"Right, sorry." She shook her head, then took a deep breath.

"Tommy Merlyn and Oliver Queen are back in town."

Felicity's heart jumped into her throat at the sound of Oliver's name.

He was back. He was _back_.

"Who are they?" Sara asked, eying her sister's frozen expression with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

"They're these two rich guys who rented out the Netherfield Beach House for the season last year," Iris explained. "They're renting it again for the season this year."

That jumpstarted Felicity's brain again. "How long are they staying?" she demanded. "Are they going to be here for the whole summer?"

"I don't know," Iris admitted.

Felicity felt her heart pounding furiously, but whether it was from the news or something else, she couldn't tell.

"What's the big deal?" Sara shrugged. "Rich tourists come to spend the summer here every year. What makes these guys so different?"

"The big deal is that Laurel fell in love with Tommy last year, but he just up and disappeared without saying a word and he left your sister heartbroken," Iris answered grimly.

A pang of guilt echoed through Felicity's muscles at Iris' words. She'd been so caught up by the fact that Oliver was back that she hadn't stopped to think what kind of heartache this would cause for her beloved sister.

"Not to mention, Oliver Queen is the most insufferable human being on the planet," Iris added. "He called Felicity stupid the first night he met her."

Felicity closed her eyes at that. So much had happened since then. So much that she couldn't tell.

Sara quirked an eyebrow up her forehead. "Wait a minute, Oliver Queen? _That_ Oliver Queen?"

"Yeah, the guy who's heir to the Queen Consolidated empire," Iris nodded.

It seemed that the gravity of the situation had finally gotten through to Sara. "Well he must be the real stupid one, if he thinks my sister is dumb."

Felicity shook her head hard. She couldn't bear to listen to them denigrate his character, not now when she knew the truth. Not now, after all he'd done for them.

So she quickly changed the subject. "Does Laurel know?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," Iris said, as she bit on her lip. "But knowing this town, someone's probably already broken the news to her."

The minute Felicity got home, she made a beeline for her older sister's bedroom. Laurel was already sitting in the middle of her bed, wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with a book in her lap and a calm expression on her face.

At first, Felicity thought Laurel might not have heard the news, and she was dreading being the one to break it. But before she could open her mouth, Laurel began.

"Yes, Lissy, I heard," Laurel said, not even glancing up from her book. "And yes, I'm fine. I promise, I'm perfectly fine."

Felicity didn't believe her for a second.

"I'm over him."

No she wasn't. Laurel could repeat those words until she was blue in the face, but Felicity knew better. She could see it in Laurel's eyes whenever they glazed over and drifted out the window when they went to coffee at the Mudhouse. She saw it in the droop in Laurel's expression every time they passed by the Netherfield Beach House. She could even hear the quiet sobs through her bedroom door late at night when Laurel was sure everyone else in the house was asleep.

Felicity walked toward the bed and plopped down on it, glaring at her sister with an expression that showed very clearly how little she believed her.

"I mean it, Lissy," Laurel said. "I'm over him. I realize now that all we had was a summer romance. It came, and now it's gone. I've accepted that."

"So then what happens?" Felicity demanded. "What happens when you run into him at the Mudhouse? Or at The Place? Or somewhere else in town? This place is tiny, you're bound to see him at some point."

Laurel's complacent mask cracked for a tenth of a second, but she schooled her expression back into its forced tranquility before Felicity could drill anymore cracks.

"If I run into him, I'll be perfectly polite. Just like I am with everyone."

Felicity huffed. "Laurel, it wouldn't be completely out of line if you yelled at him. He deserves it! He just left town without saying a single word!"

"I'm not going to do that. And neither are you." Laurel's face suddenly got stern and fierce. "You are going to leave him alone."

"But — "

"Lissy, you promise me _right now_ that if you run into him, you won't do anything to embarrass me. You will be civil at the very least and you will not breathe a word about me."

She grumbled as she crossed her arms across her chest. "Can I at least hack his cell phone and replace all his data with videos of porcupine farts?"

That brought a reluctant smile to Laurel's face. "OK, well he does deserve that."

* * *

For all of Laurel's assurances that she was over Tommy Merlyn, she was definitely doing all she could to avoid him. It started slowly, when she declined Felicity's lunch invitations because she claimed she had too much work to do, or when she didn't want to go grocery shopping because she was too tired. But when Laurel stopped showing up to coffee Saturdays, Felicity finally decided to put her foot down.

With Sara's help, the two younger Smoak-Lance girls cornered Laurel one evening after dinner in her bedroom.

"Laurel, you can't let Tommy Merlyn keep you from living your life," Felicity announced as she burst through her bedroom door.

Laurel quirked an eyebrow up at her. "I wasn't aware that that was what I was doing."

Sara barrelled past her older sister to throw herself onto Laurel's bed. Then she made a big show of rolling her eyes. "Oh please," she snorted. "You've done nothing but try to avoid him for the past two weeks. Ever since he came back to town. I don't even know the guy, and even I can tell you're trying to stay away."

"That is not true," Laurel huffed. "I've just been swamped — "

"With work," Felicity finished for her. Her tone was as dry as the Sahara. "Yes, we know. But we also happen to know that your schedule is completely clear this Friday afternoon. So since you're over Tommy Merlyn and since you're obviously not avoiding him, you're going to the Beach Bash with us."

Laurel gave them both a long-suffering look. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Felicity demanded. "You went last year."

Sara nodded solemnly. "Yeah, and I need _something_ to do around here that isn't drugs."

Laurel looked down at her book and let out a sigh.

Felicity slowly took a seat on the bed next to Sara. "Hey," she began gently, "I know you're over Tommy, but if you're at all worried about running into him, Sara and I will run interference. You won't have to talk to him at all."

Laurel looked up and bit on her lip, like she was trying to hide a smile. Finally, she rolled her eyes and laughed. "Fine! God, you two are the worst sisters ever."

"I think what you meant to say is we're the best sisters ever," Sara said smugly.

Laurel laughed again and responded by grabbing her pillow and hitting Sara with it.

Felicity smiled, but it didn't quite make it all the way to her eyes. Sure, there was a plan in place to help Laurel avoid Tommy, but what would happen if she ran into Oliver? She was torn between hoping like hell it wouldn't happen and praying to deities she didn't believe in that she would.

Friday afternoon eventually rolled around and once the Smoak-Lance sisters got off work, they met at the Mudhouse and walked down to the boardwalk where the Beach Bash was already in full swing.

"You'll point him out to me if we see him, right?" Sara muttered to Felicity.

The older girl swept her gaze across the crowd, and sure enough, Tommy Merlyn was standing by the volleyball pits, talking and laughing with a group of people in his board shorts and a thin white T-shirt. She tried not to let her heart sink when she couldn't find Oliver anywhere near him.

"Yeah," she answered, jerking her eyes toward the stand. "He's over there. Dark hair, blue trunks."

While Laurel was busy looking around, Sara surreptitiously glanced where Felicity had gestured. Then her eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow," she breathed. "Well now I don't blame her for falling for the guy."

With Tommy on the west end of the boardwalk, Felicity and Sara steered Laurel onto the east end, claiming they wanted to make their own tie-dye T-shirts. Together they kept her occupied and far away from any Tommy sighting — until Laurel declared she was hungry.

"Why don't we get a funnel cake?" she suggested. "I mean, that's half the reason we come anyway, isn't it?"

Panicked, Felicity glanced over. Tommy was still over on the west side, but he was in the middle of a volleyball game with someone. He was occupied, but she didn't want to risk the chance he'd see Laurel.

"Uh, why don't I go get them?" Felicity suggested. "You stay right here." And before they could follow her, she turned on her flip flop and braved the other end of the boardwalk.

As Felicity got in line, she made another quick scan of the beach. Oliver, once again, was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't tell if she was relieved or severely disappointed.

Just as she was about to let out a sigh, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Turning to see who it was, she immediately felt her heart sink into her abdomen.

"Hey, Felicity," Tommy grinned widely. "Typical to see you in line for the funnel cakes."

Felicity frowned at him. "Hello, Tommy," she answered stiffly before turning away. Sure, she'd promised Laurel she wouldn't say anything embarrassing if she ran into her ex — but that didn't mean she had to say anything to him period.

But sure enough, Tommy couldn't seem to take a hint.

"So how are you?" he asked in his perpetually sunny tone. "How have you been? What have you been up to?"

"Different things," she bit out, still refusing to look at him.

"Like?" he prodded.

Felicity let out a sigh. Laurel, forgive me, she thought silently before turning around, her eyebrows fixed into an angry point above her nose. "Why do you care?" she demanded. "Are we supposed to be friends or something?"

That seemed to shock Tommy into a temporary silence, at the very least. He got over it pretty quickly, though.

"Of course we're friends, Felicity," he said, his eyes still showing surprise and now a little bit of hurt. "I've always thought of you as my friend."

She snorted. "Could have fooled me. Especially when you just up and left last summer without telling any of us. Without saying goodbye. Without even warning _Laurel_."

Tommy winced at the name and Felicity couldn't help the flood of vindictive pleasure that washed over her at the sight of his discomfort.

"She's fine, by the way," Felicity continued. "She's actually great. She's busier than ever with work. And she's over you. She's _so_ over you."

He looked down at his feet, shuffling some sand with his flip flop. "Good," he mumbled, though his face looked like he meant the exact opposite.

With a harrumph, she crossed her arms and turned away. She refused to let herself feel pity for him. She held onto her anger with a vice-like grip.

But Tommy wasn't going to drop the subject so easily. "I guess I wasn't a very good friend," he sighed. "I should have been more open about things. I realize that now. You know, I wasn't even all that sure that we should come back, but when Oliver insisted — "

It was embarrassing just how quickly his name made Felicity turn around.

"Oliver? Oliver insisted?" she demanded. "Is he here?"

Tommy blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah...well, he's not here right now. He's back at the house, catching up on some work. But he's here for the summer with me."

It was like he had stolen all the air from her lungs with a single answer. Oliver wasn't at the beach, but he was going to be in town for the summer. The whole, long summer.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The person in front of her had finally gotten their funnel cake, so Felicity automatically moved up and ordered one. The minute the plate was in her hand, she turned and started walking toward the other end of the boardwalk as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to escape the length of Tommy's legs.

"Wait, Felicity."

She rolled her eyes, but stopped so he could catch up to her.

"Look, I know I made a big mistake, but…" he bit his lips and slumped his shoulders forward. "I just want a chance to talk to her. Please?"

"Are you asking my permission?" Felicity demanded tartly.

He gave her a wry smile. "I'm smarter than I look. You're super protective of your sister, and I know I'm not going to get anywhere near her if you don't let me."

Felicity couldn't help but grin a little at that.

"Fine. I'll...I'll see if she's willing to talk to you later tonight. But don't get your hopes up or anything," she warned him. "Just because she might be willing to talk to you doesn't mean you're forgiven or that you even deserve a second chance."

Tommy nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes! Thank you so much!"

Felicity waved him off and went back to the east end of the beach. Her two sisters were already sitting on a towel in the sand, talking about something when she plopped down next to them with the piping hot funnel cake in her hands.

Sara eagerly tore off the first bit and shoved it into her mouth. She let out a sigh of contentment, then leaned back. "If I had easier access to funnel cake in Colorado, I'm sure it would have been so much easier to avoid the drugs."

"Yeah, but then you would have been six hundred pounds," Laurel teased.

Sara waved that off like it meant nothing. "Still would have been healthier than heroin."

Felicity couldn't help but marvel at how easily Sara could talk about it now. Three months ago, she was hiding out in a basement, refusing all human contact. Now she was openly joking about her addiction problems. With a smile, she leaned over and pecked her little sister on the cheek.

Sara quirked an eyebrow up at her. "What was that for?"

Felicity returned her expression with a shrug and a smile. "Nothing. Just glad you're here."

The funnel cake slowly disappeared as the three sisters talked and laughed together. Once it was gone, Felicity got up to toss the paper plate. Then she took a deep breath and returned to her sisters, preparing herself inwardly for her mission.

"So," she began casually, "you won't guess who I ran into in the funnel cake line."

Sara, who was drawing patterns in the sand with her finger, didn't look up. "Who?"

Another deep breath. "Tommy Merlyn."

Just as she suspected, Laurel froze at the sound of his name and guilt automatically washed over Felicity. She shouldn't have brought it up, she thought to herself. She was a bad sister for talking to the enemy. She should have kept her promise to her sister and to herself to ignore the little twat.

Sara looked up from her sand drawing. "Wait, did he walk up to you? Or did you walk up to him?"

"He walked up to me," Felicity answered quickly. "I swear, he was the one who talked to me. And he wouldn't stop talking either. It was like he was using the funnel cakes to hold me hostage!"

"What did he say?" Laurel asked. She might have sounded calm to anyone else, but her sisters could hear the slight tremor in her voice.

Felicity sighed. "He wants to talk to you."

"Well too bad!" Sara said fiercely. "You should have told him to go fuck himself!"

Laurel all of a sudden looked horrified. "Lissy, _please_ tell me you didn't tell him to go fuck himself."

"No, but I wanted to," Felicity admitted. "He just wants to talk to you. I told him I'd let you know that, but I also told him not to get his hopes up."

Laurel bit on her lip as she thought it over. Felicity felt a little on edge as she waited for her answer. Finally, the oldest sister sighed.

"It had to happen sooner or later," she said in a resigned voice. Then she got to her feet.

"Do you want us to go with you?" Felicity asked.

Laurel shook her head. "I need to do this by myself. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

She shot them both a tepid smile, then walked off to go talk to Tommy.

Once she was out of earshot, Sara turned to Felicity with a raised brow. "If she's not back in fifteen minutes, do we make up an excuse to go rescue her?"

Felicity frowned as she walked her sister walk away. "Make it twenty."

They didn't have to wait the whole twenty minutes, though. Laurel came back before their self-imposed deadline with a much brighter smile on her face than when she left.

"It wasn't so bad," she said immediately as she sat down. "We talked a little. He was very nice. It was like catching up with an old friend."

Felicity's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "And?"

"And nothing," Laurel answered. "It wasn't awkward, it wasn't weird. I think we'll be fine. We'll just be friends, which is great since he's staying here for the summer."

"But he say why he just left last summer without giving you any heads up?" Felicity demanded. "Did he give any explanation at all?"

"No, but he didn't need to," Laurel insisted. "I swear, Lissy, I'm fine."

Felicity didn't believe that for a minute. She knew her sister almost as well as she knew herself, and she also knew that Laurel had a penchant for self-sacrifice. She was willing to bet that Laurel was just telling herself that everything was fine, just so she could be close to Tommy again. She knew all this, she just wasn't willing to say it out loud.

Sara, however, didn't feel beholden to such compunctions.

"You're full of it," Sara declared after staring at her sister's face for a long time. "You're still in love with him, you just won't admit it."

"I'm not," Laurel sighed. "And to prove it, you'll get to see it for yourself."

That immediately made Felicity wary. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Tommy's having a dinner party tomorrow night. He's having a few people over and he extended the invitation to the three of us. I accepted his invitation."

Felicity felt her stomach drop and the blood in her veins go cold. "What?"

"We're going to a dinner party at Netherfield tomorrow night, and you'll see for yourself that I'm over him."

Suddenly her older sister's obsession with her ex was no longer her chief worry. "Is Oliver going to be there?"

"Yes." Laurel's expression turned apologetic. "I know you don't like him, I'm sorry. I just couldn't come up with an excuse fast enough to get you out of it. We can always pretend you came down with something at the last minute, though, if you really don't want to see him."

"He's the guy who called you stupid, isn't he?" Sara demanded.

Felicity nodded, but it felt weird — like her head was detached from her neck.

"God, I haven't even met either of these douchebags and already I hate them," Sara growled.

Felicity's answer was automatic. "Don't worry about it, Sara, and don't be mad about it. I'm over it. I was just curious."

It was like the script had flipped. Instead of Laurel insisting she was fine and over Tommy, now it was Felicity's turn to say she was over Oliver's insult — except in her case, she really was.

Sara and Laurel, on the other hand, didn't look so sure. "If you're so over it, then why does it look like you're about to puke?" Laurel asked in a worried tone. "Honestly, Felicity, if the thought of you having to spend any time with Oliver is making you panic, then please, don't worry about it. Sara and I can go and you can stay at home."

As painful as the thought of spending an evening with Oliver surrounded by a bunch of people sounded, it was even more painful than the thought of staying home and _not_ seeing him.

"Don't be ridiculous," Felicity said automatically. "Of course I'm going with you. I'm not about to let you walk into your ex's house by yourself."

Laurel beamed at her sister and leaned forward to wrap her arms around her shoulder. "You're the best, Lissy. I love you."


	12. Chapter 12

Felicity honestly couldn't figure out whether she wanted to go to the Netherfield dinner party or whether she was dreading it.

She figured it ultimately was a mix of the two.

The mood of each individual Smoak-Lance sister was best summed up in their outfits. Laurel was dressed in a bright yellow sundress Felicity had only seen her wear twice, while Sara — unimpressed by going to a dinner party held by two men who had grievously insulted her sisters — donned a pair of jeans and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt.

After much agony, Felicity finally decided to split the difference between them: she wore a high-waisted fuschia skirt that flared out in an A-line cut, paired with a sleeveless white blouse with a black peter pan collar. She finished off the ensemble with a pair of spotless white Keds.

They showed up to the Netherfield Beach House five minutes after Tommy told them the party started. They brought two bottles of wine, both tucked into each of Laurel's elbows. The collective house gift had been the source of almost as much consternation as the outfits.

"I still don't see why we're bringing these dickbags anything," Sara muttered under her breath, her arms crossed as she followed Laurel up to the front door.

"Because it's polite," Laurel answered, not bothering to turn around and look at her sister. "You're not supposed to show up to a party empty-handed."

"Well I'm still having issues over the fact that we're showing up at all," she answered. Felicity had to bite down on her lip to keep herself from smiling at her sister's incorrigible attitude.

Once they were all on the front step, Felicity reached forward to ring the bell, but before her finger even made contact, the front door swung open, revealing a very surprised Oliver Queen.

She felt her heart stop in her chest when she saw him.

"Felicity," he said immediately. "Hi."

"Hi," she breathed back. It felt like her muscles were frozen, and all she could do was stare at him. Her inability to look away wasn't doing her heartbeat and her blood pressure any favors.

An uncomfortable pause stretched out before them as they stared at each other, until Sara got impatient.

"So are we going to stand out here all day, or are you going to let us in?" she demanded.

That broke the spell his gaze seemed to have on her body. Hastily Felicity looked down and Oliver stepped away from the doorway to let them through.

"Laurel, it's nice to see you again," he said politely as the oldest sister followed Felicity.

"It's nice to see you, too," she answered with a smile.

"And I don't believe I've had the pleasure," Oliver said as he turned to a still surly Sara. "I'm Oliver Queen. You must be Sara."

The girl in question managed not to scowl as she shook his hand, but just barely. Felicity felt a wave of panic and shame when she realized that Sara was treating Oliver so coldly when she had no idea just how much she owed him.

The three girls followed Oliver into the house, and he led them to the living room where Tommy was sitting with a few other people from around the town. Tommy's face lit up when he saw Laurel, and he immediately waved her over. Laurel blushed and went to him, Oliver by her side and Sara on her other.

Felicity spotted Iris sitting on a loveseat by herself, furiously typing something into her phone. She immediately made a beeline for her best friend and took the empty seat next to her.

"Sexting with Barry?" Felicity asked with a smirk, trying to look over Iris' shoulder at the phone screen.

"No," Iris answered, her eyes still on her phone. "Trying to finish a story on deadline. Sorry, hold on." She bit her lip and started typing even faster.

Felicity shook her head. She'd never understand Iris' job.

After a few minutes, Iris finished typing and let out a breath. "OK, now that _that's_ finally over," she declared, turning to Felicity, "hey, lady! Fancy seeing you here."

Felicity smiled. "I know, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. You've been in Central City for the past two weekends and I've missed you."

"I know, but Barry's been super needy lately," Iris laughed. "He's working a case that's got him and the whole department stumped. He said he needs someone to bounce ideas off of, someone with an inquisitive mind, and who better to do that with than his reporter girlfriend?"

"Yeah, and the stress relief is probably pretty helpful too," Felicity winked.

Iris rolled her eyes, but the blush that spread across her cheeks hadn't escaped Felicity's attention.

"I'm actually surprised to see you here at this shindig," Iris said, not-so-deftly changing the subject.

"Well I wasn't about to let Laurel go by herself," Felicity answered. She lowered her voice so only Iris could hear her. "I can't let her fall for him again."

Iris sighed. "Come on, Lissy — are you even sure she ever got out of that hole to begin with?"

The two of them glanced over to where Tommy and Laurel were sitting. Even surrounded by a group of people, it was clear for everyone that they only had eyes for one another. At one point, Tommy leaned forward to murmur something in her ear and Laurel brought her head closer, a lovely pink blush spreading over her cheeks. Then she threw her head back and laughed, a beautiful sound that rang through the room.

It was heartwarming to hear her sister's laugh again, considering she had been deprived of that sweet sound for so long, but she felt a little chagrinned over the fact that Tommy Merlyn of all people was the one making her laugh.

"Over him my ass," Felicity muttered to herself.

Eventually, her gaze wandered away from her sister to the tall billionaire standing off to the side. He was holding a glass of wine and holding a conversation with a woman she didn't recognize. Felicity felt an almost painful stab of jealousy when something she said made his face lift in a smile. He even chuckled! He _chuckled_.

When was the last time he ever smiled or chuckled at anything she said?

She shook her head hard when she realized just how insane she sounded in her head. Don't be ridiculous, she scolded herself. It wasn't like he owed her anything. He wasn't her boyfriend, after all. She held no claim to him.

That didn't stop her from wishing she did.

Half an hour later, the party moved from the living room to the dining room. Felicity took a seat between her sisters, close to the end of the table. Oliver and Tommy both ducked into the kitchen while everyone waited.

"They're not going to serve anything weird, are they?" Sara asked.

Felicity rolled her eyes.

A few minutes later, the two hosts emerged from the kitchen, holding huge platters of food on each arm.

"All right, everybody," Tommy announced with a huge smile, as he set the food down in the middle of the table. "Dig in!"

No one needed to be told twice. The minute Oliver and Tommy were seated, everyone immediately made grabs for the plates of roast chicken, grilled asparagus and mashed potatoes.

For the first few minutes, conversation had completely stopped. Everyone at the table was too busy stuffing their faces with the delicious food.

"This is really great, Tommy," Laurel said. She ate with much more poise than either of her sisters. "Did you cook it?"

He laughed. "Are you kidding? If I cooked it, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't look this good and I'd have to pay to have all your stomachs pumped afterward. No, this was all Ollie."

Felicity wasn't the only one at the table who was surprised by that.

"Really?" Sara demanded. " _You_ cooked this?"

If he was insulted by her incredulity, he didn't let on. His face was perfectly smooth as he nodded. "Yeah. Believe it or not, billionaires know how to cook, too."

The table chuckled at his joke, but Felicity was dying to know more.

"How did you learn?" she asked. "Did you teach yourself? Did someone teach you? Did Moira?"

His gaze turned to her, but his expression was still implacable. She searched his face for any hint that he might have felt something as he looked at her, but she found nothing.

"My housekeeper taught me," he answered. "Raisa. She was like a second mother to Thea and me."

The mention of his little sister brought the young woman's face to mind and Felicity couldn't help but smile. "Speaking of Thea, how is she?"

"She's well," he answered. "I'll tell her you said hello. She'll be pleased."

It was like he was closing a door on their conversation. Not slamming it, just politely closing it, so he wouldn't invite any further inquiry.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't hurt by it.

She turned her red face back to the dinner in front of her, wondering why he shut her down so quickly. Did he think she'd bring up his sister's unsavory past? Did he think she'd start rambling on about drugs and stuff? How could he possibly think that? After everything she's been through, did he really think she'd be that insensitive?

No, her more rational side chided. No, he's shutting down the conversation because he doesn't want to talk to you. He doesn't care about you anymore. You're not worth his time.

Of course it would be like this, she thought bitterly to herself. Of course she'd be the one to ruin any chance at happiness with a guy who really was perfect for her.

This was all her fault. She had no one to blame for this but herself.

She could feel tears start to prick in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She would not cry here. She would not fall to pieces while her sister still needed her.

Felicity remained quiet for the rest of dinner. She tried to keep her emotions in check as she watched Tommy and her sister talk the whole evening, but it was hard. It was hard to watch them fall for each other once again while the man she had feelings for was right across the table from her. And he might have been just three feet in front of her, but he'd never felt farther away.

After dinner was more talking. Tommy and Laurel retreated to a corner of the living room to talk by themselves while Felicity sat in a group with Sara and Iris, not contributing to the conversation. Instead, she tried — and failed — to keep herself from watching Oliver the whole night long. He played the dutiful host, flitting from group to group, making small talk and offering any wine he could.

He didn't look her way once, and Felicity could feel her heart breaking inside her chest with each passing moment.

When the party was over, the Smoak-Lance sisters went home together. Sara and Laurel kept up a steady conversation in the car the entire way home, but Felicity spent the ride staring out the window and trying hard to keep her tears at bay.

Really, what had she been expecting? she scolded herself. He confessed his feelings. She threw them back in his face like they were nothing but garbage. Why would he give her a second chance? She certainly didn't deserve one.

She'd never felt more miserable in her entire life.

Once they reached home, Felicity swiftly got out of the car and ran to her bedroom where she could fall to pieces in private. She hadn't even reached her bed by the time the tears overtook her, and before she could stop herself, she was lying facedown in her pillow, sobbing harder than she'd ever sobbed before.

She didn't know how long she had spent crying into her pillow — all she could really discern was the fact that her father was snoring down the hall when she heard a knock at her door.

"Lissy?" Laurel asked softly on the other side of the door. "Lissy, are you asleep?"

A wave of guilt washed through her. Of course Laurel was going through her own kind of agony. She'd just spent an entire evening with an ex-boyfriend she was still madly in love with, and here Felicity was, crying over a guy who was never hers to begin with. How selfish was she?

Felicity quickly tried to pull herself together. She wiped her tears and sniffed hard to make sure nothing was hanging from her nose. "No. Come in."

The door opened and Laurel entered the room. "So I — "

She stopped short the minute her eyes landed on her younger sister. Concern immediately overtook her expression and she was sitting on the bed next to her in a heartbeat. "Lissy? What happened?"

Felicity bit down hard on her wobbling lip. "Nothing," she said, but the tremor in her voice betrayed her.

Laurel say through the lie. "What's wrong? Please, tell me."

The tenuous hold she had on her composure broke and Felicity's face crumpled as she was once again swept up in her grief. "Laurel, I...I…" she sobbed, "I made the biggest mistake, and I don't know how to fix it!"

The older woman sat patiently as Felicity spilled the whole sordid story, right from the beginning. How she thought she hated Oliver after what he said about her. How she ran into him and his mother in Central City. How he confessed his feelings for her at the end of the trip and how she threw his feelings back in his face.

Laurel actually gasped when she got to that part.

"I'm not finished," Felicity sniffed grimly.

She continued the tale by recounting the letter he wrote, the same one she kept folded in her journal. Then she got to the part at the end, where she found herself falling for the real Oliver in Star City: the generous employer, the loyal friend, the doting and loving brother. And, of course, the piece de resistance — how he paid his old friend McKenna to take on Sara's case.

"That was _him_?" Laurel demanded, her eyes wide.

Felicity nodded. She closed her eyes and more tears streamed down her face. "Yeah. It was him. It was all him." Regret stung at her again and she brought her knees to her chest, as if it could keep her heaving lungs together just for a moment. "I could have had it all, Laurel. I could have had _him_ , but I was so stupid! I was so close-minded and judgmental!"

It was the irony of it all that turned the situation from sad to tragic — Oliver believed she was an idiot when they first met, and a year later, she had proven him right.

"I've ruined everything," she whispered.

"Oh, Lissy," Laurel murmured. She scooted closer to her sister to wrap her arms around her shoulders and pull her closer. "It's OK. You're going to be OK."

Laurel kept whispering it over and over until Felicity started believe her.

* * *

The next day, Felicity woke up to red, and swollen eyes. She sighed as she tried to rub the residual tears out of them. That was the problem with crying yourself to sleep, she thought.

Reaching around for her glasses, she slid them onto her face and found her sister curled up on the other side of the bed with her, sleeping soundly.

She smiled at Laurel's prone figure. She must have stayed after Felicity fell asleep, but the thought brought on a wave of guilt. Laurel had wanted to talk about something, but instead she spent the whole time blubbering about how she'd ruined things with Oliver.

Felicity gently nudged her sister's shoulder. "Hey, Laurel," she murmured.

She stirred, then blinked a few times as she tried to reorient herself.

"Hey," she smiled sleepily when she saw Felicity. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she said. "You didn't have to stay with me, you know."

"Don't be ridiculous," Laurel mumbled as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "You're my sister and you needed me. Of course I was going to stay with you."

Felicity smiled. "Anyway, I'm sorry about unloading all of that on you."

That made Laurel roll her eyes. "Lissy, considering how much you were holding in and for how long, I was surprised you didn't burst earlier. And that reminds me — why _didn't_ you tell me earlier?"

Her tone was only playfully accusing, but it still made Felicity feel a little guilty.

She sighed. "I guess because you were still hurting so much over Tommy, I didn't want to bring up his name or bring up anything that would have reminded you of him. You had enough on your plate. And then when it came to the whole McKenna thing...I guess, since he was keeping a secret I thought he wanted it that way."

Laurel nodded. "I can understand that last part, but the first part is crazy. Just because I was sad about Tommy doesn't mean that you can't tell me things. I _want_ to be there for you and for Sara."

"I know." And Felicity _did_ know — as she looked back on all the reasons she felt justified for keeping all of it secret, she couldn't help but feel a little silly.

"So," Laurel said, as she propped herself up on her elbow. "Now what?"

Felicity raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"What happens next? What are you going to do? Are you going to talk to Oliver? Are you going to tell him you like him?"

"No!" Felicity said immediately. "Are you kidding? That sounds like the worst plan in the world!"

"Why not?" Laurel demanded. "You're clearly head over heels for the guy! He should know that!"

"Laurel, I rejected him about as bad as any man has ever been rejected before! He probably hates me by now! In fact, I'm pretty sure he _does_ hate me!"

"Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed. "He doesn't hate you at all. If he did, he wouldn't have been so nice to you in Star City, and he wouldn't have hired that lawyer for Sara. And he definitely wouldn't have let Tommy invite you to the dinner party last night."

"He's just being nice," Felicity muttered stubbornly, pressing her knees to her chest. "That's who he is. He's a nice guy disguised as a pretentious dillweed."

That made Laurel laugh. "Regardless, I think you're wrong. I think he still very clearly has feelings for you and you should let him know that you feel the same way."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Not all of us are like you, Laurel. We can't just forgive people on a whim. Even if he _didn't_ hate my guts, he probably doesn't feel the same way about me anymore. And not that I could blame him — I was horrible to him. He knows now that he should stay away."

Laurel shook her head. "Lissy, I think you're making a mistake."

"No I'm not," Felicity insisted. "For once in this whole miserable situation, I'm doing the right thing."

Laurel's mouth tightened into a thin line, but she didn't press further. She knew her sister well enough to know that she wasn't going to budge from her position. When Felicity realized, with relief, that Laurel wasn't going to try and push it, she heaved herself out of her bed and held out her hand. "Come on, let's go wake Sara and scrounge up some breakfast."

Felicity felt a little bit lighter after she had unloaded her problems to her oldest sister, but the feeling of sadness didn't go away completely. She doubted it ever would — just like Walter would think back on his summer fling with Moira and always think "what if," Felicity knew she'd feel the same way.

Laurel didn't bring it up again after that night, but Felicity knew her oldest sister was keeping an eye out for her in any way she could. In a way, their roles and reversed — instead of Felicity trying to protect Laurel from all mentions of Tommy, it was Laurel protecting Felicity from all mentions of Oliver.

Unfortunately, there was only so much she could do in a town where everyone ran into everyone else at least once a week.

It started off innocently enough: while the girls were having their weekly powwows at the Mud House, Oliver and Tommy would wander in for a cup of joe. When the boys spotted the girls, obviously they had to saunter over to make polite, but short conversation.

A couple of days later, Laurel and Sara would be hanging out at the bookstore while Felicity worked, and Tommy (searching for what he claimed was a "beach-worthy book") would stumble in and have a long conversation with Laurel.

Every time something like this happened, Felicity couldn't help but feel a little on guard, and every time she brought it up, Laurel insisted that she was fine.

By the third week into the summer season, Felicity was starting to believe her sister's repeated mantra. Laurel had multiple run-ins with Tommy and she managed to smile through every single one of them. She even _looked_ happier, which was something Felicity desperately missed.

One Thursday afternoon, Felicity had to take a break from IT maintenance at city hall. She decided to pay her mother a visit at The Place. With her hands in her pocket, she made the quiet, solitary trek down to the boardwalk, passing the Mud House as she went.

It was just a cursory glance. She didn't expect to see much more than a bunch of coffee lovers sitting in worn-in leather chairs, reading books and talking.

What she saw instead was not at all what she expected.

What she saw instead was Laurel. And Tommy. Leaning forward, smiling at each other like they were the only people in the world.

And they were holding hands over the table.

Felicity's eyes widened, as she doubled back to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. She even blinked several times, like her eyelids were windshield wipers trying to push away any debris that was getting in the way of this confusing tableau.

But sure enough, the scene of Tommy and Laurel sitting together, holding hands remained.

Eventually Felicity started walking again, but this time, her thoughts were utterly confused. When did this happen? _How_ did this happen? Had Laurel learned nothing the first time around? Was Tommy just jerking her around again? What the hell had he said to get her sister to take him back?

She spent the rest of the afternoon mulling over these various questions, that by the time she got home, she was completely indignant. After all Tommy had done to her, Laurel was just going to take him back like that?

She decided her sister needed an intervention. And who better to help her stage one than Sara?

After Felicity got home, she immediately ran down to the basement to tell her younger sister what happened. Sara sat there on the couch, listening carefully to everything Felicity said, her silence growing stonier with each passing moment. When Felicity had finished her explanation and asked her if she was in, Sara nodded without hesitation.

"Of course," she growled. "Laurel's not thinking clearly. Together we can get through to her."

The older sister had texted ahead, saying she already had dinner plans, so they shouldn't wait for her. That only made her younger sisters even more wary — obviously she was eating dinner with Tommy, to celebrate their newly reformed relationship.

But her absence at dinner didn't deter them. If anything, it solidified their resolve.

They both decided to wait in Felicity's room for Laurel to come home, but they didn't hear the front door open until almost midnight, when their parents were already asleep. Subconsciously, the two younger sisters leaned forward, listening to their older sister's light footsteps on the stairway. The telltale creak of her bedroom door told them that she was in for the night, and that's when they sprang into action.

Quietly, they crept across the hallway and knocked on her door. "Laurel?" Felicity whispered.

"Come in," was her muffled answer.

She pushed the door open and they walked in to find Laurel still in her work clothes, sitting on her bed. She looked happier than Felicity had seen her in months.

"Hey, guys," she beamed at them. "What are you doing still up?"

Sara quirked an eyebrow at her sister. "We could ask you the same thing."

Laurel shrugged. "I was out with some friends."

"Friends?" Felicity demanded, her arms crossed over her chest. "Or _boyfriend_?"

Laurel's peaceful expression dissolved into one of slight alarm before turning into resignation. "How did you find out?"

"Certainly not from you," Felicity answered bitterly. "I saw the two of you acting all cozy at the Mud House this afternoon. At first, I thought, 'That can't be Laurel. That can't _possibly_ be my sister. She's not stupid enough to go back to the guy who dumped her before without giving a reason or even a heads up.'"

"Felicity — "

"But then I kept staring at the two of you, locking eyes on one another like you were the only two people left in the world and I realized, 'No, I think she is being that stupid. She's actually falling for the guy. _Again_.'"

Laurel looked briefly annoyed. "I'm not being stupid. If you'd just let me talk, I can explain it to you."

"The fact that you have to explain it at all is really troubling for us," Sara said dryly.

"Just shut up for the a second, OK?" Laurel demanded. Then she let out a sigh and straightened out. "I know you guys are worried for me, and if I were in your position, I'd probably be worried, too. But I swear, this time it's different."

Felicity and Sara exchanged wary looks, but they both stepped forward to take a seat on Laurel's bed. It was a silent agreement that they would listen to what she had to say.

"Tommy texted me two days ago and he said that he'd really like the chance to talk. At first I didn't want to, but I figured that at least I'd get some closure, you know? So I agreed. We met up for drinks yesterday and we talked."

"And what did he say?" Felicity asked.

"Well he apologized, for one. He said he was completely in the wrong for leaving me last summer, and if he could take it all back, he would."

"But he can't," Sara said flatly.

"That's what I said," Laurel nodded. "Then he told me that he was kind of stupid about it. He said that his friends managed to convince him that it wasn't going to last, and coupled with his own low self-esteem, he thought that the best thing for everyone was to just walk away."

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?" Felicity demanded.

"He said he always thought that I was too good for him," she said. Laurel's cheeks were bright red at this point. "He said because I'm smart and beautiful and a lawyer, and he was just a rich kid punk who lived off his father's fortune and a trust fund that he wasn't worthy of me. Or some silly thing like that."

Felicity couldn't help the grudging amount of respect she started to feel creep up inside her when Laurel said that. In her mind, Tommy's first instinct was correct: her sister _was_ too good for him.

Sara, however, didn't think much of this explanation.

"He's so full of it," the younger girl scoffed. "He's just saying that to blow smoke up your ass."

Laurel shrugged. "Maybe. But then he told me he loved me and that he hasn't stopped loving me or thinking about me since he left. And he asked if there was even a tiny part of me that felt the same way."

"What did you say?" Felicity asked.

Laurel sighed. "I couldn't lie to him about that," she said quietly. "I told him of course I still felt the same way. But it didn't erase the fact that he left the first time and I didn't know if I could trust him not to leave me again a second time."

"And what did he say to that?" Sara prodded.

"He said that he understood, and I was being more than fair. And he said that he would use the summer to prove to me that he wasn't going to leave again, and by the end of the summer we'd decide where to go from there. And I agreed."

Sara made a big show of rolling her eyes while Felicity just shook her head.

"How can you trust him?" Felicity demanded. "How can you believe he'll just keep his word like that?"

"Not only that, but how can you fall for someone who's so clearly a pushover that he can't make a decision on his own?" Sara added. "First he says that his friends convinced him that it wasn't going to last. Then he said his friends convinced him to come back. Is he even capable of deciding things by himself?"

Laurel sighed. "I know you guys don't trust him. _I'm_ not even sure if I trust him. There's still a lot of ground to make up after everything that happened last summer."

Felicity felt her guard go up almost immediately. She could feel the word "but" coming from a mile away.

"But I really love him. Lissy, you saw how I was after he left. I was a wreck, and as much as I tried to pretend that I was OK, I really wasn't."

"No," Felicity drawled out sarcastically. "You don't say."

Laurel grimaced at her sister before continuing. "My point is, he makes me happy. Being with him makes me happy. Is it so wrong for me to seek that out?"

Felicity and Sara exchanged a look. This was the problem with Laurel being a lawyer — most of the time, her arguments were pretty airtight.

"Fine," Felicity muttered irritably. "We won't say anything about it anymore, as long as you're still happy."

"But the _moment_ he fucks up, I swear to God he'll wish he never set foot in Hertfordshire," Sara warned. "He will pay dearly for hurting you."

Laurel beamed as she threw her arms around her sisters. "You guys are the absolute best sisters a girl could ever ask for."


	13. Chapter 13

Even though Felicity was incredibly wary of her sister reuniting with Tommy, she couldn't argue that Laurel looked happier than she'd seen her in a whole year. And as much as she hated giving Tommy any credit whatsoever, she grudgingly admitted that maybe he deserved at least some of it.

But no matter how happy Laurel was, it still didn't fully distract Felicity from her own longing.

She didn't have a lot of experience with love and boys, but Felicity thought for sure that she'd get over the whole Oliver thing in a few weeks at the most. After all, she'd never even _kissed_ the guy, much less been on a date with him. How long could she possibly be hung up on him?

The answer, unfortunately, seemed to be a pretty long time.

Oliver had long since stopped coming to the bookstore every other afternoon — like he had the summer before — but that didn't stop Felicity from seeing him around town. Sometimes she'd spot him at the grocery store and she'd wave, but he'd just nod in return. Or sometimes she'd see him sitting outside the Mud House underneath a huge umbrella, reading a book.

In those instances, Felicity desperately wanted to go up to him and ask what he was reading, or what he planned to cook for dinner that night. But then she'd remember the look on his face the night of the dinner party when she inquired about Thea, and then she'd pull back and continue doing whatever it was she had been doing.

This was her own fault, Felicity had to remind herself. She had no one to blame for this but herself.

Knowing this, however, didn't stop her from pining after him.

On a rare Friday afternoon off, Felicity was sprawled across the couch in the living room, the remote in her hand as she flipped through the channels. There wasn't much on, considering it was a weekday afternoon, but she wasn't really paying much attention anyway.

Five o'clock eventually rolled around and Felicity was still on the couch, bored out of her skull, when Laurel walked through the door. The minute she spotted Felicity on the couch, the older girl beamed widely and ran to her.

"Please tell me you're not doing anything today," she begged.

Felicity raised her eyebrows. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because it's a gorgeous day and I want to have a picnic on the beach," she answered. "Come on, it'll be fun! We'll grab sandwiches from Alexander's, a bottle of wine from Place One and we'll get drunk on the sand! Please? It's been forever since we've had a picnic."

Felicity considered it for a moment. Why not? she thought to herself. It wasn't like she had any big plans for the rest of the evening anyway.

"Sure," she shrugged.

Laurel clapped excitedly then jumped up to make her way up the stairs. "Great! I'm going to change, and I'll meet you in a couple of minutes."

Hauling herself off the couch, Felicity followed her sister up the stairs to her own bedroom. She threw her messy hair into a ponytail without bothering to even run a brush through it. Then she pulled her black one-piece swimsuit out of her dresser and tugged it onto her body before throwing an oversized tie-dye T-shirt and a pair of boardshorts over it.

When she emerged from her room, Laurel was already waiting outside her bedroom, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet from excitement. But when she spotted Felicity, her expression turned into one of scrutiny.

"What?" Felicity demanded.

"Where's your swimsuit?" Laurel asked. "We're going to the beach!"

"It's under this," Felicity answered, gesturing to her casual outfit. "I'm not going to walk down to the boardwalk in just my bathing suit."

"Which bathing suit are you wearing?"

"The black one."

Laurel made a face. "Your granny suit? What happened to the electric blue bikini?"

Felicity shrugged. "It's in the wash."

Laurel pursed her lips as she regarded her little sister for a moment. Then she grabbed her hand and dragged her into her room. "Come on," she said over Felicity's protests. "You'll wear one of mine."

Laurel started digging through her dresser drawers, picking through the tons of swimsuits that she owned. Finally, she emerged with a deep pink two piece. The top was strapless with a gold hoop between the breasts while the bottom had gold hoops on the hips, attaching the front and the back.

"Here, change into this," she offered.

Felicity quirked an eyebrow upward. "Why?"

Laurel just shrugged. "I think it would look good on you."

With a sigh, Felicity took the bikini, then dipped into their shared bathroom to change. Once she emerged, Laurel gave a tiny clap of approval. Then she marched forward to wrap a gauzy blue and gold sarong around Felicity's hips.

"There," Laurel nodded. "Now let's do something about your hair and makeup."

Felicity's eyes immediately narrowed. "Why? I thought we were going to the beach. The water's just going to mess up my hair and wash away any makeup you put on me."

"I'm not going to put on much," Laurel insisted as she steered her sister into a chair next to her vanity. "I'm just going to put on some waterproof mascara and maybe a little liner and gloss. Nothing big. And your hair looks like a rat's nest, and seawater would only make it worse."

Felicity grumbled, but didn't physically protest her sister's attention. Once the impromptu makeover was finished, she turned to look at herself in the mirror. It wasn't a dramatic look, but she still looked way more done up than she expected to be for a picnic at the beach with her sister.

"What are you trying to do?" Felicity asked as Laurel started digging through her closet for a pair of flip flops. "Why are you trying to make me all pretty for this?"

"No reason," Laurel said. But a bit of redness crept up into her cheeks, which was her tell when she was lying.

"Seriously, Laurel."

The older girl sighed before straightening up to look at her sister. "I don't know, I guess you've just been so bummed lately. I wanted to do something to kind of boost your self esteem. I thought maybe if you felt pretty, you'd feel better or something."

Felicity didn't fully believe her. There was something about Laurel's tone of voice that sounded a little guarded, like she was still concealing part of the truth.

But instead of calling her on it, Felicity decided to go along. She'd find out her plan soon enough — Laurel wasn't very good at keeping secrets.

Once they were both ready, Laurel and Felicity left the house, armed with their towels and a cooler for their food. The first stop was Alexander's for sandwiches, then the liquor store for the wine. Then they made the short trek down to the boardwalk.

It was a Friday afternoon during the summer, so the beach was fairly crowded with tourists and townies alike. Felicity started to walk toward the west end of the beach, where there were fewer people, but Laurel grabbed her by the wrist and started to drag her toward the opposite end.

"Let's set up by the volleyball nets," she suggested.

Felicity raised an eyebrow. "There's barely any space there."

"We'll wait for some to open up."

Sure enough, a group of teens from the high school decided they were finished playing a few minutes later and left behind a prime spot of sand. Laurel and Felicity immediately laid down their towels to claim it for their own.

"Perfect," Laurel beamed happily.

Felicity shook her head. "What's with the need to be so close to the volleyball nets?"

Her sister shrugged. "No reason. Just thought it might be nice, in case we wanted to join a game or something."

Once they were settled in, they unwrapped their sandwiches and Laurel uncorked the wine. As they ate and drank, they chatted a little bit, about Laurel's work and about Sara's recovery and other things. About half an hour into it, Felicity could feel herself relaxing, almost forgetting about how weird Laurel had been acting.

Then she heard a voice in the distance calling her sister's name.

"Hey, Laurel!"

The girl in question whipped her head at the sound of her name, and her face lit up when she saw Tommy walking toward them. Seeing Tommy there made Felicity want to roll her eyes, but her annoyance was soon forgotten — because Tommy hadn't come alone.

Trailing a few feet behind him was none other than Oliver Queen in his dark green swim trunks and nothing else.

Felicity's throat immediately went dry at the sight of him. The reason for Laurel's ministrations became all too clear. The younger girl turned to glare at her older sister, who adopted an innocent expression that wasn't fooling anyone.

"Did you plan this?" Felicity demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Laurel said, not meeting her sister's eyes. "I just wanted to spend some quality time with my sister. I had _no_ idea that Tommy and Oliver would show up."

"My ass," Felicity muttered. But she could only be annoyed with her sister for so long, because Oliver was getting closer and closer. Panic was starting to rise up in her at the thought of having to be so close to the guy she was seriously obsessing over. She idly reached for her wine and downed the rest of it in a single gulp.

"Hey," Tommy said with a wide smile as he came up to the two girls. He immediately took a seat on Laurel's other side and pecked her on the cheek. "Fancy seeing you here."

"What a pleasant surprise," Laurel beamed. It made Felicity roll her eyes.

"And what are you lovely ladies up to on such a beautiful afternoon?" Tommy asked, though his eyes never left Laurel's face.

While Tommy had taken a seat the minute he got there, Oliver remained standing, looking a little bit uncomfortable. Felicity could feel her heart pounding painfully in her chest as she waited for him to sit down or turn away.

"We just wanted to have a little picnic on the beach," Laurel answered. "What are you doing here?"

"We were thinking of getting in a game of volleyball," Tommy replied. "Lucky for us, we happened to run into you two."

It was like watching the really bad skit before a sales pitch. Laurel and Tommy kept acting like it was some huge surprise to run into one another when Felicity was beginning to suspect this had been the plan all along.

And if Oliver's stony expression was any indication, he was thinking the same thing.

Felicity was torn between wanting to reach for his wrist to persuade him into sitting down with them and retreating to the far corner of the towel. Luckily, Tommy made the decision for her.

"Ollie, would you sit down instead of towering over us like some predatory bird?" he demanded. "Jesus Christ."

Oliver heaved a sigh, but did as his best friend asked. Once he was seated, he nodded in Felicity's direction.

"How are you?" he asked quietly.

Felicity's pulse sped up. "I'm well," she answered, hoping like hell her voice wasn't shaking.

Tommy and Laurel talked a little bit about starting a game of volleyball, but all the nets were already taken and there was a long line for who would get to play next. In the meantime, the two sisters had polished off the bottle of wine they brought with them.

Laurel immediately seized the opportunity.

"Hey, Lissy, why don't you and Oliver go down to Place One and get some more wine?" she said in a tone that made it very clear that it was _not_ a suggestion.

Felicity briefly considered strangling her sister right then and there, but there were far too many witnesses.

With nothing more than a weary sigh, Felicity got to her feet. Oliver followed her lead.

"Any requests?" Oliver asked.

Tommy shrugged. "Surprise us."

Oliver's eye twitched, like he was itching to reach forward and punch his best friend in the face. But he refrained and instead turned on his sandal and started walking toward the boardwalk. Felicity had to jog to catch up with him.

The liquor store wasn't very far from the beach, but walking in painful silence next to Oliver made it feel like the distance had doubled. There were just so many things Felicity wanted to say to him, but how could she start? What exactly could she say without sounding or looking like a total idiot?

Just as she was about to resign herself to spend the entire walk in total, miserable silence, Oliver surprised her by breaking it.

"So how have you been?" he asked.

Felicity blinked twice, trying to overcome the shock she felt at Oliver actually speaking to her of his own (kind of) volition.

"I've been good," she answered a little cautiously.

He slowed so he could glance over at her and the expression on his face almost floored her. There was a softness around his mouth and his eyes...well, his eyes almost held something that looked like concern.

"Have you really?" he asked quietly. "Or are you just saying that?"

His question undid something in her. It was like he unlocked all of the walls she constructed to hold in her sadness, and before she knew it, all of the truth she'd been holding back tumbled out of her.

"Actually, I've been kind of miserable," she admitted, keeping her eyes on the ground as she put one flip flop in front of the other. "You see, I made this huge mistake almost a year ago and I've been paying for it ever since."

He didn't answer for a long pause, but Felicity didn't have a clue what he might be thinking because she kept her eyes trained on her bright green toenails.

"As a man who's made many mistakes, it's been my experience that most of them can be fixed," Oliver answered slowly. "What was your mistake?"

Her heart started thumping furiously in her chest as her brain started to work up to the words to answer him properly.

"There was this guy," she whispered, "and at the time, I barely knew him. All I really knew was something I overheard and he made...well, he didn't make a great first impression. But then a few months later, he told me he loved me and I was...I was cruel. I was really cruel."

Oliver didn't say anything as she spoke. It was just as well, because Felicity didn't know if she'd be able to continue if he interrupted.

"But then I kept running into him over and over again, and I started to get to know him more. And I...I realized he was so much more than that terrible first impression. He was — _is_ — a good person. A kind employer, an amazing brother and just...just one of the most generous people I've ever known. He's been there for me when I didn't deserve it, and he's been there for my family in ways they'll never really understand, despite all the terrible things I said to him."

Her toenails went fuzzy, and Felicity realized that tears started to pool in her eyes. Hastily, she wiped them away.

"Somewhere along the line, I fell in love with him," she admitted. "But now I'm worried it might be too late."

Though she kept staring hard at her feet, she noticed when his sandals stopped in the sand next to her. She finally gathered the courage to lift her head and look him in the eye, and what she saw there made her heart pound even harder than it already was.

He was looking at her — more like _staring_ at her — with the fiercest hope she'd ever seen.

"Oliver," she whispered. "Is it too late?"

Instead of answering, Oliver closed the distance between them, wrapped his arms around her and pressed his mouth to hers.

Ever since Felicity had come to the realization that she was in love with Oliver, she had imagined in so many ways how it would have felt to kiss him, but the reality far exceeded any expectation she ever had.

It was like his lips lit a flame underneath Felicity's skin, and as his fingers grazed over the bare skin of her back, her nerve endings hummed. Then Oliver's tongue pressed against the seam of her lips, like a gentle question, and she answered it by opening her mouth and inviting him in. Their breaths quickened simultaneously, and Felicity clinged to him like she was afraid he might disappear at any moment.

All too soon, Oliver pulled away. Felicity's eyes slowly drifted open, like they were fighting through a haze, a spell that his kiss had cast upon her.

"So does this mean you forgive me?" she whispered.

Oliver smiled softly down at her, and she felt herself melt all over again.

"Felicity," he murmured, his hands traveling up to cup her face. His thumbs ran over her cheekbones, and she felt herself flush under his attention. "There was never anything to forgive."

* * *

The news that Laurel had forgiven Tommy and they were subsequently back together had caused quite a stir in the town's gossip mill. But that was nothing compared to buzz caused by Oliver and Felicity's seemingly out-of-the-blue relationship.

Sara and Iris, for example, couldn't quite wrap their heads around the fact that Felicity was now dating someone they considered her worst enemy.

The three Smoak-Lance girls sat down to coffee and doughnuts with Iris one Saturday at the Mud House. As usual, they went around the table to talk about what was new in their lives. Since it was the day after she and Oliver kissed, she had been buzzing with excitement to share, and when it was her turn, she blurted it all out in a rush, like she could hardly hold it in.

Laurel, who hadn't seen her sister at all since she sent her on the liquor run with Oliver, was not at all surprised. Instead, she was practically bouncing with Felicity's shared excitement, squealing over every single detail she shared of the kiss.

Sara and Iris, on the other hand, couldn't have been more shocked.

"You _what_?" Sara demanded.

"Felicity Megan Smoak, please tell me you are joking!" Iris practically shouted.

"I'm not," she insisted, her smile lighting up her entire face. To her younger sister, she said, "Don't worry, Sara. This is a good thing, I promise."

And with that, she explained the whole story, from the very beginning. Iris and Sara sat and listened, the shock on their faces blossoming with every word. When Felicity got to the part about Oliver arranging for McKenna to take over Sara's case, the young woman herself practically stiffened.

"That was _him_?" she whispered in awe.

It seemed that Felicity's story had completely softened her tone.

"Yes," Felicity nodded. "That was him."

"I can't believe it," she whispered, her eyes glazed over. "That's...that's just…"

"Amazing?" Laurel finished for her.

Sara just nodded.

"He kind of gets it, you know," Felicity said quietly. "Because Thea went through a lot of the same things you went through. We have a lot more in common than I ever could have imagined."

Iris had recovered from her shock as Felicity related the story. With a soft smile on her face, she reached over the table to take her hand.

"For a long time, I didn't think there was ever anyone, in the _world_ , who could deserve you, Lissy," she smiled. "But if there's a guy in the world who's up to the challenge of deserving you, I think Oliver might be it."

Felicity beamed at her friends. Surrounded by the cocoon of her friends' love and support, she finally realized that right there, in that moment, she was the happiest she'd ever been.

On the other hand Donna and Quentin — both of whom had been fairly insulated from all the drama — were nonplussed for the most part, though Donna was pretty thrilled at the fact that her daughter was dating a billionaire. And when Quentin found out that Oliver was responsible for securing McKenna as Sara's lawyer, he started treating him like the son he never had.

Tommy was as unsurprised to learn about his best friend's relationship as Laurel was. And, much like his girlfriend, he was absolutely ecstatic.

"So you and Ollie," he winked one afternoon at the bookstore. He came by the Monday after the staged picnic intervention under the guise of looking for something to read when Felicity suspected he probably came just to talk to her.

Felicity blushed at Tommy's smirk, but tried to cover up her embarrassment with a roll of her eyes. "Like you and Laurel hadn't already planned it," she retorted.

He laughed at that. "Yeah, but seriously — I'm really happy for the two of you. I always suspected he might have had a thing for you, but was too shy to say anything about it."

"Oh?" she answered with a raised eyebrow. "How could you tell?"

He shrugged. "Ollie has a series of tells when it comes to women he likes. Basically he acts like an oversized second-grader with a crush — first he looks for any excuse to be around her, but when he's in the same room with her, he forgets how to function like a normal human being. With you, though — he took his awkwardness to a whole new level."

Felicity grinned. She started to feel a lot more warmth toward him, now that they were seemingly on the same side now.

Oliver and Felicity became a fixture of the Hertfordshire social scene, but while Felicity was happy to spend time with her family and friends with Oliver at her side, she most looked forward to the hours they spent alone, far away from Laurel and Tommy's well-meaning looks or Sara and Iris' giggles.

One Friday evening, after dinner with Laurel and Tommy, Oliver took Felicity to the Hertfordshire planetarium. After subtle nod and a wink to the guard, they were allowed in.

For obvious reasons, the planetarium was the tallest building in town. But while this meant it was at a perfect position for stargazing, it also had the best bird's eye view of Hertfordshire. It was especially stunning as they looked out onto the western horizon, the sun melting into the ocean.

Oliver laid down a blanket for the two of them and Felicity immediately settled into his arms, sighing contentedly as she watched the sunset.

"What are you thinking?" he murmured into her ear.

Felicity smiled. "I'm thinking how lucky I am to be here right now with you. What about you?"

She felt his chuckle reverberate in her body. "I'm thinking the same thing."

They spent a few more moments in contented silence. Then, as Felicity thought about the chain of weird events that led to where they were right at that instant, she got a little curious.

"So tell me something," she began. "That first night when we met and I overheard you telling Tommy you weren't interested in me...when did that change? How did that change?"

Oliver grimaced at the memory. "Well, I guess it changed after that first dinner at The Place with Tommy and Laurel. When you told me off for being so pessimistic about technology."

She thought back to that night. At the time, she'd been furious with her sister for forcing her to go on that ridiculous double date. Now, though, she was retroactively grateful.

"That's when I realized that you were far more than what I thought you were. And that's also when I couldn't stop thinking about you.

"I started seeking you out after that. When I learned that you worked at the bookstore, I looked for every opportunity I could to go there. I spent so much time at the coffeehouse, hoping you'd show up and maybe I'd get to talk to you. Basically, I stalked you."

Felicity laughed.

"I watched you all summer, and the more I watched you, the more I couldn't look away. The more I didn't _want_ to look away. When I convinced Tommy that it was time to leave town, it was as much for him as it was for me. I thought I was losing my mind."

"Why?" Felicity asked with a frown. "Was I really so bad a match for you?"

He shook his head. "No, that wasn't it at all. I wanted very much to date you, but I didn't want to be like Tommy. I didn't want to form a relationship with you and just have it be a summer fling. My mother had fallen in love with someone here in town in her youth, but he was the kind of guy who could never leave and she was the kind of girl who could never stay. I was worried that we'd be the same."

He suddenly laughed. "Of course, had I known how you felt about me at the time, I probably could have saved myself the angst."

Felicity rolled her eyes, but she still smiled. "So then what made you change your mind? What made you want to pursue a relationship with me?"

"It was in Central City. Remember when you went to visit STAR Labs and I ran into you there? Dr. Wells told me that you were interested in perhaps working there and you wanted to work in science and technology. That's when I realized that you didn't want to stay in Hertfordshire — that you'd possibly be willing to move. Maybe even willing to move to Star City. I was so excited at the thought of you moving there with me and us being together that I got way too ahead of myself. In all my arrogance, I didn't stop to consider that you didn't feel the same way."

She winced at the memory. "I'm sorry," she murmured, pressing herself tighter to his body. "I can't believe how rude I was."

He squeezed her hand in his. "Don't be. If it hadn't been for your honesty, I never would have realized all the mistakes I made."

Another silence fell over them, and Felicity turned his answers over and over in her head. Finally, with a chuckle, she breathed, "I guess we took the most roundabout way to end up together, didn't we?"

He returned her laugh. "I guess so."

She gently pulled away from him so she could look him in the eye. "So where do we go from here? Once the summer's over? What happens after that?"

Oliver regarded her with the same seriousness. "Is there anything keeping you here in Hertfordshire?"

She shook her head. "No. Not anymore."

He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her. "Then let me take care of it."

* * *

They didn't broach the topic again, but far from feeling anxious about it, Felicity was instead peaceful. Oliver said he'd take care of it, and she believed him.

That summer felt like the fastest ten weeks of her entire life and all too soon, August had rolled around. To celebrate the end of the season, Tommy and Oliver once again threw a party that somehow managed to be bigger than last year. Barry even came home for it, much to Iris' surprise and excitement.

As the host of the party, Tommy was gracious and accommodating to all of his many, many guests, but Felicity noticed that there was something a little...off about his demeanor. It was in the way his knee kept bouncing up and down whenever he was seated, or how he laughed a little too loud whenever someone made a joke that wasn't all that funny to begin with.

When Felicity brought this up to Oliver, he simply smiled and shook his head.

"You'll see in a minute," he answered with a wink, and for a full minute she felt her heart go into palpitations.

By nine p.m., the party was in full swing. People were everywhere, dancing, playing volleyball, talking, laughing, swimming — Felicity had practically lost track of how many people there were. And it was at the height of all the festivities that Tommy peeled himself away from Laurel's side and walked up to where the DJ had set up to take the microphone from him.

"Hi, everybody," he greeted with a wave. Everyone within reach of his amplified voice stopped and turned around to look at him. "Thank you all so much for coming. As most of you know, Oliver and I aren't from around here, but you people have made us feel so welcome every time we come, and it has meant so much to us."

Everyone clapped politely.

"I really love this place, from its charming stores to the fact that the beach is literally a five second walk from this house," everyone chuckled at that, "to the beautiful women. And I'm talking about one woman in particular."

Though he had yet to say her name, everyone turned to stare at Laurel who was blushing so hard that the red reached the roots of her hair. He gestured for her to join him on the stage and she did so, albeit a little reluctantly.

"Laurel, in the year that I have known you and in the months that I have had the privilege of dating you, I have never been happier in my entire life. And I want so desperately to hold onto that happiness, if you'll let me."

Then, in front of God and everyone, Tommy Merlyn pulled something out of the pockets of his swim trunks and got down on one knee. Laurel gasped when she realized what he was doing.

"Dinah Laurel Lance, I love you more than life," he announced into the microphone, his voice slightly shaking. Then he pulled open a tiny box in his hand and held it out to her. "Will you marry me?"

The entire party waited on bated breath for her answer.

Laurel started crying. She brought her hands up to her face, covering her mouth like she could hardly believe it. Then she nodded vigorously. "Yes!" she cried. "Yes, of course!"

Tommy's face broke out into a wide beam and he got to his feet and hugged her.

Felicity clapped harder than everyone there, and the minute Tommy got the ring on Laurel's finger, she had pushed her way to the crowd to throw her arms jubilantly around her sister's shoulders.

"Congratulations!" she shouted over the celebratory cheers.

"Lissy!" Laurel sobbed. "I can't believe it! I can't believe it, I'm _engaged_!"

Felicity eventually had to give her up and let everyone else at the party offer their congratulations. As she retreated, she felt Oliver walk up to her and wrap his arm around her waist.

"How long had he been planning this?" she asked him.

"Pretty much since she agreed to date him again," he answered.

She laughed, then pulled herself closer to Oliver's side.

The next day, Tommy and Laurel both came over to break the news to Quentin and Donna. Predictably, Donna was thrilled and elated while Quentin accepted the news with a gruff nod and a promise to break Tommy's kneecaps if he hurt his daughter.

In the aftermath of the proposal, Tommy and Laurel decided several things. First, the wedding would be next year. Second, they would host it on the beach, which was only appropriate because it was where they met.

And lastly, Tommy would move to Hertfordshire.

"I mean, it only makes sense," Laurel said the next day at lunch with her sisters. "I have my career here. I'm the district attorney, and it's not like I can just move away from that considering that it's an elected position in most other states. And Tommy doesn't really have a career yet. He was more than willing to move here."

"So what's he going to do?" Sara asked. "Is he going to be house husband?"

"He talked a little bit about opening a nightclub here," Laurel answered, "but that's still very much up in the air. He's still weighing his options."

"Well I think that's pretty awesome," Felicity said.

"Thanks," Laurel beamed. "And what about you and Oliver? Have you guys talked about what's coming next?"

"A little," Felicity admitted. "He said he'd take care of it, though, so I'm not worried."

Sara gave her a skeptical look. "Seriously? Isn't he supposed to go back in a two weeks?"

Felicity shrugged. "Yeah. But like I said, I'm not worried."

And it was true. She'd only been dating Oliver for two weeks, but he told her he'd take care of it, and considering that he'd been doing that for the better part of a year, she had no reason to doubt him now.

A couple of days later, Felicity got a call from an unknown Star City number. When she answered it, she was pleasantly surprised to find it was Curtis Holt.

"Hi, Curtis," she greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"Well I have several things to announce. First, the merger with Queen Consolidated is officially complete! We are officially the applied sciences division of QC. Second, I have been named the official head of operations."

"Congratulations!" Felicity gushed. "That's really great! They couldn't have found anyone better."

"Thanks," he laughed. "Anyway, there's one last reason I called. I wanted to tell you that we never did fill the position that you interviewed for all those months ago. The truth was, we just couldn't find anyone who was as good as you were."

Felicity felt a pounding in her chest when she realized where this might be headed.

"We were about to put the word out that we were looking again, but then we got the call from Mr. Queen a couple of weeks ago saying that you might be interested in the position again, and I wanted to see if this was true."

"It is," she said fervently. "It definitely is."

"I'm really glad to hear that," Curtis answered.

They ended up talking for the next hour, negotiating and renegotiating all the specifics, including salary, moving expenses, start date, et cetera. Once they came to full agreement on everything, Curtis offered his congratulations and promised to email her the employment contract within the next day.

The minute she got off the phone, Felicity bolted out the front door and hopped into her mother's rarely-used car and drove all the way to the Netherfield Beach House. Once Oliver opened the door, Felicity leapt forward and threw her arms around his neck.

Oliver received her attack hug with a surprised "Oomph!" then proceeded to fall backward on his butt. Felicity, however, in all her excitement hardly cared.

"Oliver!" she cried. "Oliver, I'm taking the position at Unidac!"

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Oh really?"

She pulled away and nodded so hard that she looked like a bobble head. "I can't believe it! I'm going to be doing something I love! I'm going to be doing something I'm meant to do! And it's all thanks to you!"

Oliver reached up to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear. He smiled into her eyes and suddenly Felicity felt choked up with emotion. "I didn't do anything. I'm just a guy lucky enough to be with someone as brilliant as you are."

She couldn't say anything else — she was far too choked up with emotion.

So instead, she leaned forward and kissed him hard, knowing that it was the perfect beginning to a brand-new life.


	14. Epilogue

"Ms. Smoak?"

"Hold on a minute, Jerry," Felicity said. Her eyes were still glued to her computer as her fingers raced the clock, trying to finish composing one last email.

"Ms. Smoak, you told me to warn you when it was six-thirty, because you absolutely had to be finished by the time Mr. Queen got here," he reminded her.

"I'm aware of that fact," she snapped. "I just — "

"You also told me that under no circumstances am I allowed to let you work on anything past 6:30 and that I have your express permission to physically drag you out of here if I have to."

"I know, but — "

"Mr. Queen also told me that I had his permission to call down to IT to have the WiFi disabled to your office."

That caught Felicity's attention. She looked up from her computer, her jaw open in horror. "He did _not_."

Jerry nodded solemnly. "He gave me the code and everything."

Felicity grumbled something under her breath about getting a new assistant. It was far too horrifying to think of her boyfriend and assistant being in cahoots with one another.

With a sigh and a glare leveled at her assistant, she stood from her chair and grabbed her tablet and her phone. "Fine, then," she said icily. "I'll just finish this email Monday morning."

Jerry kept his expression smooth as he nodded. "Sounds like a good idea, ma'am."

Felicity strode out of her office and waved goodbye to her assistant before she ran down the flight of stairs and out the front doors where Oliver was waiting for her, leaning casually against his car, his arms crossed over his chest.

Her lips automatically turned upward at the sight of him, and he returned the expression.

"I was two seconds away from going up there and dragging you from the computer," he teased as she walked forward to greet him with a kiss.

She rolled her eyes before pushing to her tiptoes to peck him on the mouth. "You didn't have to. Jerry would have done it for you."

Oliver grinned. "I knew he was the right guy for the job."

Felicity shook her head. "The more I think about it, the more I think you hired him to help _you_ out instead of to be my assistant."

"Why can't he be both?" he asked innocently.

The two of them climbed into the car and she immediately whipped out her tablet to finish the email she started earlier.

"Felicity," Oliver started warningly.

"It's just one last email, I promise!" she protested, her fingers flying over the touchscreen. In record time, she finished composing it and hit the little send arrow before he could reach over and take it from her.

"There, done," she declared as she pressed the lock screen and stowed it away. "That's the last work-related thing I will do for the rest of the weekend, I swear."

Oliver nodded. "You're right, it will be. Because where we're going, there won't be any WiFi or cellular signal for miles."

Felicity groaned. Next to not knowing the location of their secret getaway anniversary celebration, the lack of Internet connection was possibly the _worst_ thing she could imagine.

"And you _still_ won't tell me where we're going?" she whined.

"Nope," he grinned. "Think of it like a trust exercise."

She grumbled a little under her breath, but otherwise said nothing. In the three years she had dated Oliver Queen, she knew when to push and when to let go. This definitely fell in the latter category.

After fifteen minutes of driving, they arrived at the airport. A valet stepped forward to open Felicity's door for her, while another one walked around to the trunk to grab their suitcases. Then, after a detour through the busy airport, they boarded the Queens' private jet, where an accommodating flight attendant greeted them with a tray of champagne flutes.

Once they were settled in seats opposite one another, Oliver raised his glass in Felicity's direction, a gentle smile on his face. "To the start of our anniversary celebration," he toasted.

Felicity smiled back and clinked her glass against his. "Wherever it is."

The plane took off a few minutes later. She took a peek out the window as she sipped on her bubbly. Her mind started to drift, wondering about a million different things like where their getaway was supposedly located to all the things she had on her to-do list once she came back to work on Monday.

As she was musing these things, Oliver spoke up.

"Do you remember that time I ran into you in Central City all those years ago?" he said.

She snorted, turning back to her boyfriend. "How could I forget? That was the same trip in which you proclaimed your love for me. To disastrous results."

He laughed. "Right, but do you remember how I ran into you at that little cafe with my mother?"

She nodded. In the three years since Felicity had dated Oliver, Moira Queen had slowly but surely grown to really like her son's girlfriend. They even had semi-regular lunch dates in which they talked a lot of business. That might not have seemed like a lot to some people, but to Moira Queen, business was basically her love language.

"You know what my mother said after she met you?"

"What?"

He smiled fondly. "She said, 'If she's half as smart as you say she is, then you'd be a fool to let that one go.' She's half the reason I sprung my confession on you when I did."

Felicity laughed, then reached across the little table between them to squeeze his hand. "Oh yeah?" she teased. "What was the other half?"

He shook his head. "Later," he promised. "I'll tell you later."

* * *

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises in dating Oliver was his tendency toward dramatic flair, and in that fashion, he tied a blindfold around Felicity's eyes once they got off the plane. Then he led her into a car and they drove for a few more minutes until they finally came to a stop.

Once Oliver had helped her out of the car, they took a few tentative steps forward together. Just when Felicity was about to rip the blindfold off of herself in frustration, they came to a stop.

"All right," he said softly in her ear before ripping the cloth off her eyes. "We're here."

She blinked a couple of times as her eyes adjusted to the slight darkness.

Then she recognized where they were: it was none other than the Netherfield Beach House.

"You flew us out to Hertfordshire?" she asked in confusion.

He shrugged, a slight grin on his face. "It was where we met," he reminded her. "It seemed like an appropriate place to hold an anniversary celebration."

She rolled her eyes, but the expression held no animosity. "I know my hometown is pretty small, but there is cellular signal and WiFi out here," she teased. "In fact, I'm certain I'm responsible for setting up ninety-five percent of the wireless routers in this town."

"Well I might have bent the truth a little to encourage you to stay in the present of our celebration," he shrugged.

Together, they grabbed their suitcases out of the trunk of the rental car and entered the house. They dropped off the bags in their normal room, and Felicity went to the restroom to freshen up.

Oliver knocked a few seconds later. "Meet me downstairs on the beach when you're finished," he called through the door.

"OK," she answered.

Quickly, she combed through her hair to get the plane-borne frizziness out of her blonde strands. Then she dusted a little bit of powder on her nose and changed out of her work clothes into a pale green sundress she knew Oliver loved.

Once downstairs, she walked out the back entrance that led out to the private spot of beach that served as the backyard. What she saw when she got there took her breath away.

Oliver had turned the space into a seaside bistro. There was a small, white-topped tent that sheltered a patio table planted in the sand with two wicker chairs on either side. A row of tiki torches lined the space behind the chairs, just outside the tent, keeping the bugs and mosquitos away. And along the top of the tent, between the poles, a string of twinkle lights hung over them, adding to the glow of the torches and the tall candlesticks in the middle of the table.

"Oh my God, Oliver," Felicity breathed as she took in the whole, beautiful scene. "This is beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you," he said, reaching for her hands. She placed them in his and he pulled her gently forward to press a kiss against her temple. "Happy third anniversary, Felicity."

She beamed up at him, then stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him. It was a slow, languid kiss — the kind that meant they had all the time in the world for each other.

When they had pulled apart, the each took their seats and a few minutes later, one of the contracted housekeepers came out of the house and onto the beach with a tray. Once she got to the table, she set a plate down in front of them: two neatly laid out tacos filled with pineapple mango salsa and bright pink shrimp on a bed of red cabbage.

Felicity's face broke out into a smile. "Are these from The Place?"

"Yeah," Oliver grinned. "It was what you ordered on our first date. When you still hated me."

She giggled. "I can't believe you remember."

"I remember every moment I've spent with you," he answered.

As the meal went on, Oliver took Felicity on a journey through all the high points of their relationship.

The second course was the mushroom and pesto linguini they ate on the first night they slept together.

"I was so nervous about what would happen later that I hardly tasted any of my food," he recalled.

The third course was the sweet corn chowder from the same dinner Oliver asked her to move in with him.

"You wore that beautiful, blue, low-cut number that made me want to skip dinner altogether," he said, his eyes twinkling with the memory.

The third course was a thin slice of brisket and the latkes from their first joint Christmas/Hannukah.

"I spent three days ahead of time trying to work on my latke recipe in secret so I could surprise you," he told her. "I must have gone through three pounds of potatoes. Thea was so sick of latkes by the time I finally got it right."

With each delicious bite, Felicity relieved all of the high points of their relationship. She savored the entire meal on both a visceral and nostalgic level as Oliver narrated each course. By the end of it she was so full, both with food and with love.

"This is incredible," she gushed by the time the housekeeper took away the last plates. "This entire meal, everything about it...Oliver, I can't believe it."

"It's not over yet," he said, his eyes twinkling.

She shook her head. "Darling, I'm so full I feel like I'm about to burst."

"Well I'm really hope you'll at least have a bite of this last course," he said as the housekeeper came back with one last tray. She lifted the lid to reveal two crystal glasses filled with creamy panna cotta and topped with a silky smooth strawberry puree.

"Oooh," Felicity intoned. "This looks incredible." She dipped her spoon into the dessert and slipped it into her mouth. The panna cotta dissolved almost the instant it touched her tongue and she closed her eyes in pure ecstasy.

"Holy crap, this is the most delicious thing I've ever tasted," she sighed. Despite how full she said she was just seconds ago, she found herself spooning another bite.

"I'm glad," Oliver answered warmly. His panna cotta remained untouched in front of him, content just to watch her for the time being.

"So what's this one from?" she asked. "I don't remember this, and believe me, I would have _definitely_ remembered something this heavenly."

"We haven't had this before," he answered. "I'm hoping that this will become a new, cherished memory."

Felicity poked her spoon once more into her dessert, but instead of cutting through the silken cream, the metal hit something hard — almost metallic. With a slight frown, she dug a little until she fished something small out of the glass.

Using her fingers, she sifted off the cream and strawberry puree. Then her heart skipped a beat when she saw something sparkle in the candlelight.

"Oh my God," she whispered, her eyes widening. "Oh my _God._ "

In one quick, fluid movement, Oliver stood from his seat and knelt in the sand next to her. He took her hand in his and she brought her eyes up to stare into his brilliant blue irises.

"Felicity Smoak," he began, his voice heavy and wavering with emotion, "these past three years have been the most incredible years of my entire life. And that is all because of you."

She felt her throat well up, making it completely impossible for her to speak, but it hardly mattered — she was far too stunned to be able to form a coherent sentence.

"I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are the woman for me," he declared. "Will you do me the immense honor of marrying me?"

The tears Felicity didn't even realize had formed broke through and started streaming down her face.

Instead of answering, she leaned forward and kissed him. Hard.

She could barely believe it. Here was this incredible man, bent down on one knee after constructing the most beautiful meal she'd ever experienced, all to build up to asking her to spend the rest of her life with him.

Felicity Smoak felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

When she finally pulled away, she pressed her forehead against his. "Yes," she sobbed, her voice wavering with emotion. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Oliver's mouth turned up into the most heartbreaking smile, and he kissed her again. It was a kiss of triumph, like he had won as opposed to the other way around.

"By the way, I don't expect you to change your name or anything," he grinned. "Not for me."

She smiled at him. He knew her so well.

"I don't know," she teased. "I think I could get used to being called a Queen."

He pressed another soft kiss to her lips.

"You're my queen," he promised. "You'll always be my queen."


End file.
